Portability is one of the biggest conveniences of owning a laptop over a PC. But that advantage quickly disappears if your laptop’s battery can’t last more than a couple of hours. More often than not, the problem is not the battery itself, but the apps that are draining far too much power.
The good news is that Windows includes a couple of handy tools that make it easy to figure out exactly where your battery is going. The Settings app gives you a clear breakdown of the battery usage over time, while the Task Manager lets you monitor things in real time. And once you know the culprits, stopping them is also quite straightforward.
Windows Settings app has you covered
See battery usage at a glance
Windows has always included a battery usage menu that gives you a clear breakdown of which apps have been using the most power. To view it, head to Settings > System > Power & battery > Battery usage.
At the top, you’ll see a graph that shows battery usage throughout the day. By default, this menu shows data from the last 24 hours, but you can use the Time period drop-down menu to switch to the past seven days. That’s more useful because it gives you a better sense of the battery usage. Right below the graph, you’ll also see your screen on time in case you’re wondering how much time you’ve been spending on your PC.
Scroll down to the Battery usage per app section, and you’ll see a list of apps that have used the most battery. What I like about this menu is that Windows clearly separates power used while an app is in use from power used in the background.
This makes it incredibly easy to spot apps that are draining power even when you’re not using them. In my case, I found WhatsApp using nearly twice as much power in the background as it did when in use.
Monitor battery usage in real-time with Task Manager
Watch battery drain as it happens
Windows’ battery usage menu is already pretty detailed, but there’s also a way to see the battery drain as it happens. Most people don’t know this, but the Windows Task Manager can give you a live view of which apps and processes are demanding the most power in real time.
Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open the Task Manager and head to the Processes tab. Right-click on the column header and select Power usage. This will add a new column that shows how much battery each app and process is using, with simple labels like Very low, Low, Moderate, High, and Very High.
You can click the column header to sort apps from the biggest power drainers to the lightest. Since this shows real-time usage, you’ll see apps moving up and down the list a lot.
There’s also another column you can add called Power usage trends. While Power usage shows how much battery an app is consuming at that exact moment, the Power usage trends column gives you a broader sense of whether an app has been consistently heavy on your battery over time. This is the one you should look more closely at because it’ll show the long-term battery hogs.
You will spot obvious culprits here, like a browser with too many tabs open, cloud apps syncing in the background, or resource-intensive apps like video editors and games. The biggest convenience of using Task Manager is that you can also act immediately. If you see an app using too much battery, all you have to do is right-click it and choose End task.
Everyone needs to know these essential Windows Task Manager tricks
The most useful Windows tool is also the one everyone underestimates.
There’s a lot you can do to reduce the battery drain
It’s easier than you think
Knowing which apps are hurting your laptop’s battery is only half the job. The other half is limiting those offenders, and the best way to do that is by preventing them from running in the background.
To do this, head to Settings > Apps > Installed apps, then click the three-dot menu next to the app and choose Advanced options. From there, use the Background app permissions drop-down menu to select Never. Sadly, Windows doesn’t give you an easy way to do this for multiple apps at once, so you’ll need to repeat this for each app individually. Still, it shouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes.
Some apps also include built-in options to reduce battery usage. For instance, browsers like Chrome and Edge have an energy saver mode that limits background activity.
If you want to push things even further, you can go for a few system-wide tweaks to improve the battery life overall. Windows lists some useful battery-saving suggestions under Settings > System > Power & battery > Energy recommendations. You just need to go through them and apply the ones you want.
For anyone who often uses their laptop away from a desk, battery life can make or break the experience. While there’s not much you can do about an aging battery, you can certainly optimize how it’s used, and keeping an eye on the battery usage menu is the best way to do that.
