process - Why do Windows 10 foreground apps mysteriously launch as background processes?

Occasionally Task Manager shows that "Store", "Settings", and/or "Calculator" are mysteriously running as background processes.

• There's no corresponding foreground application, just the background processes.


• I haven't interactively run either during the current session.


• Neither is listed in the "Everything" tab of AutoRuns.

As discussed in my answer to this SuperUser question, these two background processes cause a delay in executing Windows shortcut keys. But besides that, it's just plain weird.

Does anyone know why these foreground apps are mysteriously launching themselves as background processes?

And, ideally, how I can prevent it from happening? As discussed elsewhere (SuperUser and Thomas Vanhoutte), I could uninstall the Calculator and Store apps. But it seems like overkill to uninstall them just to defeat a shortcut key delay.

Answer

Store probably runs for doing automatic update check.

To turn it off, go to Start -> Settings -> Privacy -> Background apps and set it to Off.
More info in the article: How to Turn On or Off Background Apps in Windows 10.

You might also in this case turn off automatically-applied updates by going to
Settings -> Update & Security -> Advanced options
and set "Choose how updates are installed", to "Notify to schedule restart."

For the calculator :

I believe that this Modern app is among those that Windows 10 tends to keep in memory if used once. It probably runs in suspended mode, using very little memory, ready to be launched quickly when called, which is more useful in a tablet than a computer.

Windows might forget about it if you kill it off a few times using the Task Manager before shutting down. If this works, I advise in the future to use a third-party calculator instead of the Modern one, or it will come back.