power management

Microsoft has begun shipping a targeted fix in Insider preview builds that finally addresses a long‑running annoyance: the “Update and shut down” option in Windows 11 that often installed updates only to leave the PC powered on (at the lock screen or desktop) instead of switching the machine...

Windows’ Fast Startup is one of those features that promises convenience but delivers mixed results in the real world — and for many users the right choice is to turn it off. The feature speeds cold boot times by preserving a partial system state to disk instead of performing a full kernel cold...

Modern Standby — the S0 “instant-on” model Microsoft promotes as the smartphone-like sleep for Windows laptops — has quietly become an Achilles heel for many users, turning closed lids into hot, battery-draining surprises and eroding trust in Windows as a travel-ready platform. Background /...

Microsoft’s recent nudge to users — asking “what do you miss most in Windows?” — is more than a PR moment; it’s a revealing sign that the company is wrestling with conflicting priorities for Windows 11: glossy AI capabilities and the long list of everyday quality‑of‑life features that power...

Microsoft’s choice to omit the x86 HLT (halt) instruction from Windows 95’s shipped idle path was not a bug or oversight — it was a deliberate, conservative engineering decision taken to avoid a catastrophic failure mode that, in lab and field tests, could leave some laptops effectively bricked...

Dave Plummer’s off‑hand confession that his Windows NT port of the beloved 3D Pinball: Space Cadet rendered “as fast as it could” and eventually spiked into the thousands of frames per second is a compact engineering parable: a tiny timing assumption left unchecked, harmless on 1990s hardware...

Dave Plummer’s confession — that his Windows NT port of the beloved Space Cadet pinball ran “as fast as it could,” eventually spiking to “like, 5,000 frames per second” on modern hardware — is as entertaining as it is instructive, and it revisits a compact engineering lesson about timing...

Windows 95 engineers walked away from a simple CPU instruction — the x86 HLT (halt) — not because the idea was exotic or useless, but because using it risked turning customers’ laptops into permanent bricks. What looks, in hindsight, like a small compatibility choice was in fact a high-stakes...

Apple’s MacBook Air M3 and LG’s Gram 17 top many recent “best battery life” lists, with business-focused machines such as the Dell XPS 15 and Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon also singled out for long‑running, dependable power — a roundup that Analytics Insight published as part of its “Best Laptops...

Windows 11 machines that should shut down but instead loop into a restart are a maddening — yet fixable — class of problems, and the simplest remedies usually live in your power configuration and a few targeted system checks. Background Windows 11 introduced incremental changes to startup...

Tech detective or headline shorthand? Here’s what’s actually changing under the hood — and what you can do about it. A popular write‑up on Touch Reviews summarizes a claim by a tech creator (named in that piece as “epcidiy”) that Windows 11’s perceived sluggishness — slow right‑click menus...

Windows ships with a concealed power profile that can squeeze a few extra milliseconds of responsiveness out of high-end systems: the Ultimate Performance power plan — a no-compromise mode designed to eliminate micro-latency by disabling many of Windows’ default energy-saving behaviors...

Windows hides a high-drain, low-latency power profile called Ultimate Performance that can nudge certain workstation workloads a little faster—but it’s a tool with real trade-offs that should be used deliberately, not by habit. (howtogeek.com, winaero.com) Background Microsoft introduced the...

If your Windows 11 laptop runs hot, fans spin up frequently, or battery life feels worse than it should, the built‑in Windows Search Indexer — also known as searchindexer.exe or the Windows Search (WSearch) service — is one of the single background features that can meaningfully affect power...

Microsoft has quietly expanded its Surface firmware this week to give Snapdragon-powered Surface Pro 11 and Surface Laptop 7 owners the same on-device battery charge-limit controls that Intel-based models and the newer Surface Pro 12‑inch and Surface Laptop 13‑inch already received — meaning you...

A sweeping new update has arrived for Intel’s Arc and Iris graphics solutions, pushing performance higher and surprising users with a feature that rewrites the rules of system memory allocation. The WHQL-certified Intel GPU Driver 32.0.101.6987 marks a notable leap—not only by cementing...

Intel’s latest GPU driver release, version 32.0.101.6987 (WHQL-certified), marks a pivotal moment for users of Windows 11 24H2—ushering in a notable leap in both performance and system control for Arc and select integrated GPUs. From real-world boosts of up to 5% FPU to a granular new “Shared...

Managing power and sleep settings in Windows 11 is essential for optimizing your device's performance and energy efficiency. By customizing these settings, you can extend battery life, reduce energy consumption, and tailor your system's behavior to your preferences. Accessing Power and Sleep...

Balancing productivity and longevity while working on a Windows laptop often comes down to a simple, essential metric: battery life. For many users—especially those frequently on the move, commuting, or traveling—the difference between wrapping up a project and scrambling for a power outlet is...

Laptop battery issues can sneak up on even the savviest Windows 11 users, leaving them frustrated by unexpectedly short battery life and decreased mobility. While external factors like display brightness and rampant background processes commonly drain laptops, the underlying health of the...