Uh oh, the battery charge on your Windows laptop is down to 10%. There’s no AC outlet in sight, and you don’t have an external power source. What do you do? Here’s how to adjust certain settings in Windows to coax a few extra minutes (or even hours) of battery life from your PC in Windows 10 and Windows 11.
Manage Battery Usage in Windows 10
In Windows 10, click the battery icon on the System Tray. The pop-up notification shows your current battery charge. To reduce the remaining drain on the battery, move the slider on the bar to the left until it snaps to the setting for Best battery life.
Depending on your current charge and the capacity of your battery, that could buy you an extra hour or two before the charge is depleted. Click the Battery settings link (or go to Settings > System > Battery) to dive into additional settings.
Enable the battery saver feature so your computer can automatically limit certain activities to preserve your battery charge. Click the drop-down menu and select when battery saver should automatically turn on. Your best bet is to set it to 10% or 20%, but you can also have it set to Always. Check the box for Lower screen brightness while in battery saver. The next time battery saver kicks in, your screen will dim.
Scroll down the page to see which applications chew up the most battery power during a typical day or week. By default, the list displays apps for the past 24 hours. Click the time period to change it to one week. You can then limit their use or tweak their settings.
Click an app to see the percentage of battery usage that occurred in the foreground versus the background. If you see a higher percentage for the background, then the app is one you may want to close when you’re not actively using it and open it only when you need it.
To further control your battery usage, go to Settings > System > Power & sleep. Here, you set how long before your screen goes blank or your computer goes to sleep, both under battery power and when plugged in. The options range from one minute to never.
You’ll want your screen to turn off and your PC to go to sleep sooner when on battery power than when plugged in. Play around with the settings to see which ones work best during a typical day. If you want to preserve your battery charge, keep the settings for battery power on the low side, maybe an hour or two before your screen dims and two hours before your PC goes to sleep.
Manage Battery Usage in Windows 11
If you’re using Windows 11, click the battery icon on the System Tray. The number in the bottom-left corner displays the current battery charge. Reducing the screen brightness goes a long way toward preserving your charge. Move the slider on the bar to the left to a level that dims the screen but still allows you to see and use it clearly enough.
Click the Battery saver button to turn on battery saver mode. You can further manage battery and power settings if you right-click on Battery saver and choose Go to Settings (or open Settings > System > Power & battery)
The Power & battery screen shows the current charge for your battery, the estimated amount of time left before the charge is depleted, and the level over the past 24 hours. Click Screen and sleep and choose how long before the screen turns off and the computer goes to sleep, on both battery power and when plugged in. Click the drop-down menu next to Power mode and choose between power efficiency, performance, or balanced.
Under the Battery section, click Battery saver to customize the feature. You can click Turn on now to activate it immediately. Otherwise, use the drop-down menu to to set a specific value for when Battery saver should be used. This can be set to Never or Always, but consider a percentage of 10% or 20%. Enable the switch next to Lower screen brightness when using battery saver to dim the screen when battery saver mode goes into effect.
Click Battery usage to view the battery levels for the past 24 hours or 7 days. You can also see which apps have chewed up the most battery power when running in the foreground and background. By default, the list displays apps for the past 24 hours. Use the drop-down menu in the top-right corner to change the time period to 7 days. You can then limit their use or tweak their settings.
For each app, check the percentage of battery usage that occurred in the foreground versus the background. If you see a higher percentage for the background, then you can probably close that app when it’s not actively in use.
Edit Power Plans
You can also head over to the Control Panel for additional power settings. In Windows 10, click the Additional power settings link on the Power & sleep window. The Power Options applet still exists in Windows 11, but you will have to search for it directly.
From the Power Options window, you can customize any existing power plans or create new plans that manage how long before your screen turns off and your PC goes to sleep. To change an existing plan, click Change plan settings.
If the options are grayed out, click Change settings that are currently unavailable. You can now change the options for when to turn off the display and when to put the computer to sleep, both for battery and when plugged in. When done, click Save changes.
You can click the Create a power plan link on the sidebar to devise a new plan. Type a name for the new plan and click Next. Then set the options for turning off the display and putting the computer to sleep for battery and AC. When done, click the Create button.
Back at the Power options screen, click Choose what the power buttons do and then select Choose what closing the lid does. In both cases, the subsequent screen presents options for pressing the power button, pressing the sleep button, and closing the lid when on battery and when plugged in. For most of those, you can choose tell the computer to do nothing, sleep, hibernate, or shut down. When done, click Save changes.
To switch from your current power plan to a different one, make sure you’re at the Power Options window. If the options are grayed out, click Change settings that are currently unavailable. Click the button for the plan you wish to use.
For additional tips and tricks on preserving your battery, return to the Battery screen under System and Settings. Click the Help link. You’re taken to a Microsoft web page with helpful advice on how to regulate your battery settings to get the most bang for your buck. Here, you’ll also find a button to contact Microsoft support in case you’re running into problems with your battery life or settings.
