A power plan is a collection of hardware and system settings that manages how your computer uses power. Power plans can help you save energy, maximize system performance, or achieve a balance between the two. A power plan is also known as a power scheme.
Changes made to a power plan settings will affect all users that use the same power plan as their default active power scheme.
This tutorial will show you how to reset and restore specific or all power plan settings to default for all users in Windows 10 and Windows 11.
Console lock display off timeout is the amount of minutes Windows will wait idle with no activity while on the lock screen when a user locks the computer before timing out and automatically turning off the display.
The Console lock display off timeout setting is set to 1 minute by default for all power plans.
Any changes made to the Console lock display off timeout setting for a power plan will affect all users on the PC that use the same power plan.
This tutorial will show you how to change the Console lock display off timeout setting in Windows 10 and Windows 11.
A wake timer is a timed event that wakes the computer from a sleep or hibernate state at a specific time to perform scheduled tasks.
Important wake timers includes things like a required reboot after a Windows update. They supersede all other settings.
This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable to allow wake timers to wake the computer in Windows 10 and Windows 11.
A power plan is a collection of hardware and system settings that manages how your computer uses power. Power plans can help you save energy, maximize system performance, or achieve a balance between the two. A power plan is also known as a power scheme.
Changes made to a power plan settings will affect all users that use the same power plan as their default active power scheme.
You can export a power plan and all its settings to a POW file as a backup.
You can then import the POW file when ready to restore the power plan and its settings to any computer as it was when exported (backed up).
This tutorial will show you how to export (back up) and import (restore) a power plan in Windows 10 and Windows 11.
A power plan is a collection of hardware and system settings that manages how your computer uses power. Power plans can help you save energy, maximize system performance, or achieve a balance between the two. A power plan is also known as a power scheme.
Changes made to a power plan will affect all users that use the same power plan as their default active power scheme.
Windows 11 includes the following power plans by default:
This tutorial will show you how to change the settings of a power plan to customize how you want in Windows 11.
A power plan is a collection of hardware and system settings that manages how your computer uses power. Power plans can help you save energy, maximize system performance, or achieve a balance between the two.
Changes made to a power plan will affect all users that use the same power plan as their default active power scheme.
Windows 11 includes the following power plans by default:
This tutorial will show you how to restore the built-in Balanced, High performance, Power saver, and/or Ultimate Performance power plans if missing in Windows 10 and Windows 11.
The lid switch close action specifies the action to take when the system lid is closed.
Users can specify one of the following actions to take:
This tutorial will show you how to change the default action to take when closing the lid of your laptop in Windows 10 and Windows 11.
The lid open wake action specifies the action to take when the system lid is opened when waking (resuming) from sleep, hibernate, or modern standby.
Users can specify one of the following lid open actions to take:
This tutorial will show you how to change the default action to take when opening the lid of your laptop in Windows 10 and Windows 11.
Indexing the content of your PC helps you get faster results when your searching it for files, emails, or other local content.
The search index only includes your selected locations by default. These locations can be filtered for what file types (extensions), file properties, and file contents you want indexed.
You can choose to use Classic or Enhanced search indexing mode for where your PC will search for files.
Respect power settings when indexing can change how and when search indexing happens based on power and battery settings. This can be handy to help save battery life.
If you turn on Respect power settings when indexing, search indexing stops searching and updating the database with new information in the background or throttle it down during certain times. For instance, when the PC is in battery saver mode, best power efficiency power mode, or game mode. Or when the processor usage peaks 80 percent, or disk usage goes up above 70 percent.
This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off Respect power settings when indexing for all users in Windows 11.
A power plan is a collection of hardware and system settings that manages how your computer uses power. Power plans can help you save energy, maximize system performance, or achieve a balance between the two.
Changes made to a power plan will affect all users that use the same power plan as their default active power scheme.
Windows 11 includes the following default power plans:
This tutorial will show you how to add Choose Power Plan to the desktop context menu for all users to be able to open Power Options or instantly switch between using the Power Saver, Balanced, High Performance, or Ultimate Performance plan for their account in Windows 11.
Power mode allows you to optimize your Windows 11 device based on power use and performance.
Choose the power mode that works for you and what you want to do on your Windows 11 PC. This lets you determine what’s important to you—getting the best battery life, best performance, or a balance between the two.
You can choose between the Best power efficiency, Balanced (default), or Best performance power mode.
You can choose a separate power mode for when you are running on AC and battery power. The power mode will automatically change to what you set when you change between running on AC and battery power.
This tutorial will show you how change the power mode for your account in Windows 11.
A power plan is a collection of hardware and system settings that manages how your computer uses power. Power plans can help you save energy, maximize system performance, or achieve a balance between the two.
Changes made to a power plan will affect all users that use the same power plan as their default active power scheme.
Windows 11 includes the following default power plans:
This tutorial will show you how to choose a power plan to be the current active power scheme used by default for your account in Windows 11.
In Windows 10 version 1607 and later, the Lid open action setting (if supported) in Power Options lets users specify the default action to take when the laptop (system) lid is opened when waking (resuming) from sleep, hibernate, or modern standby.
Users can specify one of the following actions to take: do nothing or turn on the display.
This tutorial will show you how to change the default action to take when opening the lid of your laptop in Windows 10.
The Sleep after setting in Power Options allows users to specify how long in minutes the computer is inactive (idle) before automatically going to sleep.
Sleep uses very little power, your PC starts up faster, and you’re instantly back to where you left off. You don’t have to worry that you’ll lose your work because of your battery draining because Windows automatically saves all your work and turns off the PC if the battery is too low. Use sleep when you’re going to be away from your PC for just a little while – like when you’re taking a coffee break.
This tutorial will show you how to specify how long your computer is inactive before automatically going to sleep in Windows 10.
In Windows 10, there are two power models for PCs: S3 and Modern Standby (S0 Low Power Idle). The S3 power model is an older standard and is not capable of the instant on that consumers expect from modern devices. Modern Standby is capable of leveraging all the capabilities of a modern chipset and can be integrated across the breadth of tablets and PCs today. The first iteration of Modern Standby was Connected Standby, which first shipped in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. Modern Standby expands upon the Windows 8.x Connected Standby concept, allowing more flexibility in component selection.
Windows 10 Modern Standby (Modern Standby) expands the Windows 8.1 Connected Standby power model. Connected Standby, and consequently Modern Standby, enable an instant on / instant off user experience, similar to smartphone power models. Just like the phone, the S0 low power idle model enables the system to stay up-to-date whenever a suitable network is available.
Although Modern Standby enables an instant on/off user experience like Connected Standby, Modern Standby is more inclusive than the Windows 8.1 Connected Standby power model. Modern Standby allows for market segments previously limited to the S3 power model to take advantage of the low power idle model. Example systems include systems based on rotational media and hybrid media (for example, SSD + HDD or SSHD) and/or a NIC that doesn’t support all of the prior requirements for Connected Standby.
Modern Standby systems can be connected or disconnected to Wi-Fi or a wireless local area network (WLAN) while in standby. This behavior is dictated by the hardware and/or by configuration.
Connected Modern Standby will allow you to stay connected to Wi-Fi while in standby to still receive and get notifications about email, VoIP calls, and such, but it will use more battery.
Disconnected Modern Standby will allow longer battery life, but you will no longer have the advantages of staying connected to Wi-Fi while in standby.
This tutorial will show you how to check if Modern Standby is set to be connected or disconnected to Wi-Fi while in standby in Windows 10.
In Windows 10, there are two power models for PCs: S3 and Modern Standby (S0 Low Power Idle). The S3 power model is an older standard and is not capable of the instant on that consumers expect from modern devices. Modern Standby is capable of leveraging all the capabilities of a modern chipset and can be integrated across the breadth of tablets and PCs today. The first iteration of Modern Standby was Connected Standby, which first shipped in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. Modern Standby expands upon the Windows 8.x Connected Standby concept, allowing more flexibility in component selection.
Windows 10 Modern Standby (Modern Standby) expands the Windows 8.1 Connected Standby power model. Connected Standby, and consequently Modern Standby, enable an instant on / instant off user experience, similar to smartphone power models. Just like the phone, the S0 low power idle model enables the system to stay up-to-date whenever a suitable network is available.
Although Modern Standby enables an instant on/off user experience like Connected Standby, Modern Standby is more inclusive than the Windows 8.1 Connected Standby power model. Modern Standby allows for market segments previously limited to the S3 power model to take advantage of the low power idle model. Example systems include systems based on rotational media and hybrid media (for example, SSD + HDD or SSHD) and/or a NIC that doesn’t support all of the prior requirements for Connected Standby.
This tutorial will show you how to check if the Modern Standby (S0 Low Power Idle) sleep state is supported by your Windows 10 PC.
The Primary NVMe Idle Timeout setting in Power Options specifies the amount of time the NVMe device must be idle before transitioning to the primary non-operational power state.
This tutorial will show you how to add or remove the Primary NVMe Idle Timeout setting under Hard disk in Power Options for all users in Windows 10.
Indexing the contents of your PC helps you get faster results when you’re searching it for files and other things. Learn how it works.
Indexing is the process of looking at files, email messages, and other content on your PC and cataloging their information, such as the words and metadata in them. When you search your PC after indexing, it looks at an index of terms to find results faster.
When you first run indexing, it can take up to a couple hours to complete. After that, indexing will run in the background on your PC as you use it, only re-indexing updated data.
Starting at least with Windows 10 build 18965, you can turn on or off having the search indexer respect device power mode settings. This will affect the indexer performance.
The Windows performance power slider enables you to quickly and intelligently trade performance of your system for longer battery life. As you switch between the four power modes to trade performance for battery life (or vice versa), Windows power settings are engaged behind the scenes. You are able to customize the default slider mode for both AC and DC, and can also configure the power settings, and PPM options, that are engaged for each slider mode.
This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off having the search indexer respect the device power mode settings for indexer performance for all users in Windows 10.
A power plan is a collection of hardware and system settings that manages how your computer uses power. Power plans can help you save energy, maximize system performance, or achieve a balance between the two.
Normally, you could view all current settings of a power plan in Power Options. If you like, you could also output these settings to a text file. This can make it easier to share or show the power plan settings.
If you like, you can choose to include all hidden settings of a power plan, but these settings are hidden by default in Power Options since they usually do not apply to your computer.
This tutorial will show you how to output all current settings of a specified power plan to a text file to review in Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10.
This tutorial will provide you with a list of suggestions to help optimize, extend, and improve the battery life on your Windows 10 laptop or tablet.
You can pick and choose which listed suggestions you would like to do or feel comfortable doing.