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Windows tip of the week

Find battery-draining apps


By Ed Bott


When your PC's battery is draining more rapidly than expected, the cause is typically an app or service that's using more than its fair share of resources.


In Windows 10, you can track down the offender using a pair of diagnostic tools.


Start by going to Settings > System > Battery. Under the Overview heading at the top of the page, you'll see the current battery charge level, expressed as a percentage. Just beneath that value, click See which apps are affecting your battery life. That opens a list showing exactly which apps have had the greatest impact on battery life. A filter at the top allows you to see activity over the past 6 hours, 24 hours, or one week.


Effective with the October 2018 Update (Windows 10 version 1809), you can get a picture of power usage in real time by opening Task Manager in the More Details view. The Power Usage column shows an estimate of approximate current usage, expressed as Low, Moderate, Very High, and so on. The Power Usage Trend column shows a longer-term view; click the column heading to group all the like values together and zero in on the power hogs.

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