How to Manage Power Throttling Feature in Windows 10
Having many apps open means running a lot of background processes that can cause significant battery drain over time. In an attempt to save power and get the most out of your laptop’s battery, Windows 10 Fall Creators Update has introduced Power Throttling feature.
When background work is running, Windows places the CPU in its most energy efficient operating modes – work gets done, but the minimal possible battery is spent on that work.
This “Power Throttling” feature leverages the power-saving capabilities on modern processors to limit resources for background processes, while work still gets done, but the minimal possible battery is spent on that work.
Using this technology, Windows can automatically detect which applications you're actively using and throttle any other processes that are identified as not important, which can result in up to 11 percent of battery life saving to help you get more work done on a single charge.
The only caveat is that the detection process may not always work as expected, and in these cases, you can always monitor which apps are being throttled and configure Windows 10 to prevent putting certain apps into a low power state.
In Windows 10, you can use Task Manager to see which processes is throttling to conserve battery life on your device.
1. Right-click the taskbar and select Task Manager from the context menu.
2. Click the Details tab.
3. Right-click one of the column header and click Select columns.
4. Scroll down and check Power Throttling.
6. Click OK button.
The new Power Throttling column will show you which processes are in a power throttling state.
On a laptop, tablet, or other form factor running on battery, you'll expect to find some processes with Power Throttling set to "Enabled" and some others will show as "Disabled."
You can see this feature in action when opening and minimizing an application. Only actively used app, or it's on focus, you'll notice in the Task Manager this app will appear as "Disabled," but as soon as you minimize the app the state will change to "Enabled."
If you see every process with the "Disabled" state, then your device is probably connected to a power source, or it's using the "Best performance" power mode.
Power Throttling activates only when your mobile device using the battery as a power source. Quickest way to disable the Power Throttling feature is to plug it into a power source.
You can also control Power Throttling by changing power mode your device is using.
How to disable Power Throttling for processes individually
There will be special cases when an app may get throttled by mistake which can result in unwanted performance issues.
In these situations, it's possible to disable Power Throttling per application without having to disable the feature entirely.
1. Open Start Menu > Settings > System > Battery.
2. Under "Overview," click the Battery by app link.
3. Select the app you want to change its settings.
4. Clear the check mark for Let Windows decide when this app can run in the background and Reduce the work app can do when it's in the background options.
Once you've completed the steps, Power Throttling for that particular application will be disabled.
When background work is running, Windows places the CPU in its most energy efficient operating modes – work gets done, but the minimal possible battery is spent on that work.
This “Power Throttling” feature leverages the power-saving capabilities on modern processors to limit resources for background processes, while work still gets done, but the minimal possible battery is spent on that work.
Using this technology, Windows can automatically detect which applications you're actively using and throttle any other processes that are identified as not important, which can result in up to 11 percent of battery life saving to help you get more work done on a single charge.
The only caveat is that the detection process may not always work as expected, and in these cases, you can always monitor which apps are being throttled and configure Windows 10 to prevent putting certain apps into a low power state.
In Windows 10, you can use Task Manager to see which processes is throttling to conserve battery life on your device.
1. Right-click the taskbar and select Task Manager from the context menu.
2. Click the Details tab.
3. Right-click one of the column header and click Select columns.
4. Scroll down and check Power Throttling.
6. Click OK button.
The new Power Throttling column will show you which processes are in a power throttling state.
On a laptop, tablet, or other form factor running on battery, you'll expect to find some processes with Power Throttling set to "Enabled" and some others will show as "Disabled."
You can see this feature in action when opening and minimizing an application. Only actively used app, or it's on focus, you'll notice in the Task Manager this app will appear as "Disabled," but as soon as you minimize the app the state will change to "Enabled."
If you see every process with the "Disabled" state, then your device is probably connected to a power source, or it's using the "Best performance" power mode.
Power Throttling activates only when your mobile device using the battery as a power source. Quickest way to disable the Power Throttling feature is to plug it into a power source.
You can also control Power Throttling by changing power mode your device is using.
- Battery saver — Enables Power Throttling.
- Better battery — Enables Power Throttling.
- Better performance — Enables Power Throttling, but it's a more relaxed option.
- Best performance — Disables Power Throttling.
How to disable Power Throttling for processes individually
There will be special cases when an app may get throttled by mistake which can result in unwanted performance issues.
In these situations, it's possible to disable Power Throttling per application without having to disable the feature entirely.
1. Open Start Menu > Settings > System > Battery.
2. Under "Overview," click the Battery by app link.
3. Select the app you want to change its settings.
Tip
The apps labeled "Decided by Windows" indicate that the OS is controlling the power consumption, and those labeled "Decided by me" are the apps you've configured manually.
4. Clear the check mark for Let Windows decide when this app can run in the background and Reduce the work app can do when it's in the background options.
Once you've completed the steps, Power Throttling for that particular application will be disabled.