HomeWinBuzzer TipsHow to Enable, Disable, and Configure Power Throttling in Windows 10

How to Enable, Disable, and Configure Power Throttling in Windows 10

We show you how to enable or disable Power Throttling in Windows 10 and reduce the background CPU throttling of your apps.

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With the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, 's OS has added feature called Power Throttling, a way to increase the battery life of laptops by slowing down background processes.

What is Power Throttling in ?

Microsoft Power Throttling can net up to 11% more battery savings per charge with little negative impact. To do so, it leverages modern CPU throttling features to ensure that the OS is spending the lowest amount of power possible on background tasks. The idea is that the application will still get its work done, but with a smaller footprint.

However, it's worth noting that Power Throttling is only available on Intel 6th gen and higher . Those with older or Ryzen processors won't be able to make use of or disable this feature and should look elsewhere for power savings or performance gains.

With that said, we're going to show those of you with a modern Intel processor how to monitor Windows 10 Power Throttling and turn it off/on for individual applications or the entire system.

How to Monitor Windows 10 Power Throttling with Task Manager

If you're unsure which apps Windows 10 is throttling in the background, you can use Task Manager to get a list.

  1. Open Task Manager


    Press “Start” and type “task manager”. Click the first entry.

    Windows 10 - Open Task Manager

  2. Open the “Details” tab and select columns


    In Task Manager, click the “Details” tab heading, then right-click any of the column headings and choose “Select columns”.

  3. Enable the Windows 10 Power Throttling heading


    In the “Select columns” window, look for “Power throttling”, tick it, and click “OK”.

    Windows 10 - Task Manager - Details - Select Columns - Select Power Throttling

  4. Check to see if CPU throttling is enabled or disabled for your service


    Look for your application service in the right-hand column, then check to see if Power Throttling is enabled or disabled. To check if the feature is working, you can open the app to minimize/maximize it to check if the status changes.

    Windows 10 - Task Manager - Details - Select Columns - Power Throttling - Apps Bing Throttled

How to Disable Power Throttling in Windows 10

There are times when you're on battery power but don't want Windows to CPU throttle you, such as when you're doing multiple performance-intensive tasks at once. You can disable power management in Windows 10 completely by the Power settings on the taskbar.

  1. Disable power throttling via the Taskbar


    Click the battery icon on your taskbar, then drag the slider all the way to the right to “Best performance”. This mode will disable power throttling on your device. You can also set it to “Better performance” for less intense CPU throttling for background tasks.

    Windows 10 - Click Battery Icon - Best Performance

How to Disable Windows 10 Power Throttling via Group Policy

Alternatively, those with Windows 10 Pro or higher can use a group policy to disable power throttling for all users.

  1. Open the Group Policy Editor


    Press the “Start” button and search for “gpedt.msc”, clicking the first result under “best match”.

    Windows 10 - Open Local Group Policy Editor

  2. Navigate to Power Throttling settings


    In the left sidebar, use the folders to navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Power Management > Power Throttling Settings. In the main pane, double-click “Turn off Power Throttling” to open the policy edit menu.

    Windows 10 - Local Group Policy Editor - Power Throttling Settings - Open Turn Off Power Throttling

  3. Turn off Power Throttling/CPU throttling


    In the Policy properties window, set “Turn off Power Throttling” to “Enabled” to turn it off, “Disabled” to enable it all the time, and “Not Configured” to have it follow the system settings.

    Windows 10 - Local Group Policy Editor - Power Throttling Settings - Open Turn Off Power Throttling - Enabled

How to Disable Windows 10 Power Throttling with Registry Editor

If you're on Windows 10 you won't have access to the Group Policy Editor, but you can edit the Windows registry to have the same effect. First, though, make sure you read our safe registry editing guide.

  1. Open Regedit and navigate to the Power key


    Press “Start” and type “regedit”, clicking the first result to open it. You can find the key under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power. Once there, right-click any empty space in the main pane and select “New > Key”. Name it Power Throttling and press “OK”.

    Windows 10 - Open Registry Editor

  2. Edit the Laptop Throttling Registry key


    Double-click “PowerThrottlingOff” to edit the DWORD, then set the “Value data” to “1” to turn off the CPU throttling, “0” to turn it on, and delete the DWORD to follow the system defaults.

    Windows 10 - Registry Editor - Enter HKEY - Power Throttling - 1

How to Turn Power Throttling On or Off for Specific Apps via Windows Settings

If it's just the case of a specific app that's being targeted by laptop throttling, you can modify its settings via the regular Windows settings UI.

  1. Open Windows Settings


    Press the “Start” button, then click the settings cog in the bottom left, above the power icon.

    Windows 10 - Open Settings

  2. Click “System”


    Windows 10 - Settings - Open System

  3. Open the “Battery” side heading and click “See which apps are affecting your battery life”


    Windows 10 - Settings - System - Battery - Open See Apps Afecting Battery (2)

  4. Tick or untick “Let Windows decide when this app can run in the background”


    Windows will return a list of apps, sorted by the amount of battery life they consumed in the past 24 hours. You can untick “Let Windows decide when this app can run in the background”, “Reduce the work the app can do when it's in the background”, and optionally “Allow the app to run background tasks”.

    Just bear in mind that this is likely to have a toll on your battery life, so only do this if you're experiencing significant issues.

    Windows 10 - Settings - System - Battery - See Apps Affecting Battery - Uncheck (2)

Ryan Maskell
Ryan Maskellhttps://ryanmaskell.co.uk
Ryan has had a passion for gaming and technology since early childhood. Fusing the skills from his Creative Writing and Publishing degree with profound technical knowledge, he enjoys covering news about Microsoft. As an avid writer, he is also working on his debut novel.
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