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Learn more about Game Optimizer

Game Optimizer1 is patented technology for multi-core CPU PCs. It provides an immersive game experience by reducing performance interruptions while still maintaining your computer's security. By isolating non-essential applications to a single CPU core, it allows the rest of the CPUs to be allocated to game.

Game Optimizer helps improve your gaming experience by:

  • Optimizing CPU performance for smoother gaming

  • Isolating non-essential applications to a single CPU core so that the rest of the CPU can be allocated to game for better performance

  • Detecting games automatically2

  • Letting you add or select games that you do not want to optimize

  • Increasing frames per second (FPS) and reducing latency

  • Eliminating the need to turn off antivirus protection by dedicating the CPU need for optimal gaming performance

  • Reducing random CPU spikes (which can slow down the game) by dedicating CPU cores to the game

Your computer's processor must be minimum four cores for Game Optimizer to work.

How it works

Game Optimizer starts the optimization when you start a gaming application and continues until you exit the game. Optimization is paused if you exit the full screen mode when the gaming session is active. For example, if you press Alt + Tab to access any other running program, it exits game optimization and removes the restrictions. However, when you get back to gaming, it continues the game optimization and restricted programs do not get access to CPU usage.

The minimum background activities also ensure higher performance of your computer which is ideal for gaming. After you end your gaming session, your Norton product resumes all the suspended activities to run in the background.

All critical Norton protection features that are involved in protecting your computer from viruses and other security threats run in the background without interrupting your gaming experience.

Check the Game Optimizer status

You can verify the status of Game Optimizer in the notification area of the taskbar. The Norton product icon in the notification area displays a green lightening icon when Game Optimizer is enabled. When you turn off Game Optimizer, the color changes to gray.

The Gaming Dashboard displays the status of Game Optimizer, optimization status of recently played games, and access to the Game Optimizer settings. You can use the toggle switch to enable or disable optimization for the recently-played games.

1Game Optimizer is only available on Windows (excluding Windows 11/10 in S mode and Windows running on ARM processor) with four or more core processors.

2Automatically detects games based on Full-Screen Detection mode with high CPU usage, as well as use of a game launcher, if the user adds a game manually, or if it has been detected previously. Game Launchers we currently monitor for as of April 2021 are: Bethesda, Blizzard, Epic, ID, Origin, Rockstar, Steam, and Uplay.

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DOCID: v138219177
Operating System: Windows
Last modified: 09/06/2023