How to manage Power Throttling on Windows 10
Power Throttling is a feature to improve battery life on Windows 10, but when it doesn’t work as expected, you can use this guide to manage its settings.
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On Windows 10, when you work with multiple apps, even though you may not be actively using them at the same time, their processes will continue to run in the background, wasting a significant amount of power.
To optimize the power usage on devices running on battery,Windows 10includes “Power Throttling.” It’s a feature that has been designed to leverage the power-saving capabilities found in many modern processors to limit resources for background processes efficiently while permitting them to continue to run using only a minimal amount of power.
Using the Power Throttling feature, the system can detect apps that you’re actively using and reduce the power consumption for any other process that is non-essential, resulting in up to 11 percent increase in battery savings.
The only caveat is that it doesn’t always work as expected. If you’re noticing performance issues, you can always monitor the apps that are being throttled and configure them manually to prevent them from entering into a low-power state.
In this Windows 10 guide, we’ll walk you through the steps to monitor, control, and disable the power throttling feature on your mobile device.
How to monitor processes being throttled on Windows 10
You can use Task Manager to check which processesWindows 10is throttling to conserve battery life on your device.
To see which processes are being throttled, use these steps:
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Once you complete the steps, a new “Power Throttling” column will show the processes in the throttling state.
You can always confirm that the feature is working by opening and minimizing an app. When you’re actively using an app, you’ll notice that its processes in Task Manager will appear as “Disabled,” but as soon as you minimize the app, the processes will switch to “Enabled.”
If you see every process with the “Disabled” state, then your device is probably connected to a power source, using the “Best performance” power mode, or using a processor that doesn’t support the technology.
Power Throttling is only available on processors with Intel’s Speed Shift, which is a technology present on the 6th Generation of Intel chips and later.
How to disable Power Throttling using power settings
Power Throttling activates automatically when your laptop isn’t connected to a power source, which means that the quickest way to disable the feature is to plug it into an outlet.
Alternatively, you can set the power mode to “Best performance” to disable Power Throttling with these steps:
Here’s a description for each power mode on Windows 10:
How to disable Power Throttling using Group Policy
If you use Windows 10 Pro, it’s also possible to disable Power Throttling using the Group Policy Editor.
Once you complete the steps, Windows 10 will stop limiting power on all apps, regardless of which power mode configured on your device.
If you want to revert the changes, you can use the same instructions, but onstep No.5, make sure to select theNot Configuredoption.
How to disable Power Throttling using Registry
On Windows 10 Home, you won’t have access to the Local Group Policy Editor, but you can still disable Power Throttling for the entire system modifying the Registry.
Warning:This is a friendly reminder that editing the Registry is risky and can cause irreversible damage to your installation if you don’t do it correctly. It’s recommended to make a full backup of your PC before proceeding.
After you complete the steps, Power Throttling will be disabled on the Windows 10 mobile device.
If the want to take advantage of the feature again, you can revert the changes using the same instructions, but onstep No. 4, double-click thePowerThrottlingkey and set the value from1to0.
How to disable Power Throttling for processes individually
Windows 10 can proactively determine which processes need to be throttled to conserve battery life. However, in some particular cases, the app may get throttled by mistake, which can end up causing unwanted performance issues. In these situations, it’s possible to disable Power Throttling per application without completely disabling the feature.
To prevent Windows 10 from throttling a specific app, use these steps:
Once you complete the steps, Power Throttling for that particular application will be disabled.
On Windows 10, Power Throttling is a feature designed to optimize battery life on mobile devices with virtually no drawbacks. As a result, adjusting these settings is not recommended unless you’re troubleshooting performance issues with an application.
Mauro Huculak has been a Windows How-To Expert contributor for WindowsCentral.com for nearly a decade and has over 15 years of experience writing comprehensive guides. He also has an IT background and has achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft, Cisco, VMware, and CompTIA. He has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years.
