It’s no secret that computers are power hungry machines and whether you want to reduce
your PCs power consumption or save on your energy bill, today’s video will look at
ten easy ways we can do just that. You don’t need to be a computer expert for the methods
today, so just follow along and hopefully by the end, your PC will be a bit more energy
efficient. Of course, some of these methods will reduce performance, so if you often use
your PC for demanding tasks such as playing games, then feel free to skip some of the
methods. Remember to leave a like and feel free to subscribe for more tips if the video
helps. Let’s get into the methods! The first method to reduce power usage on
your PC is to change the power plan. You shouldn’t notice too much of a performance difference,
but your PC will use less power if you change the plan to power save mode. To change the
power settings to power saver mode, you need to go to the control panel first. You can
get there by searching for it in the search bar. In the control panel, click on system
and security and then choose power options from the list. In the power settings, you
might need to click on show additional plans to get the power saver option. Check the box
to the left of power saver to turn it on. You can always choose balanced if you were
already on high performance, so you don’t lose too much performance whilst still using
less energy. If you click on change plan settings, you can edit the time your PC will stay on.
Reducing these times will mean your computer or screen won’t run as long when left idle.
Let’s move on to the second method. The next method to save power is to change
some of the advanced power settings. Stay on the current settings page to access these
or go back to it if you have already closed it. You can skip this one if you like if you
don’t feel comfortable in changing some of these settings. If you are still in the
edit plan settings page of the power saver mode we selected, then click on change advanced
power settings to open a new window. In these advanced settings, first find the option called
sleep and click on it to expand it. There are a few more options that we can change
in here, such as turning on hibernate. Now find the option called processor power management
and expand it and expand the option called maximum processor state. Feel free to change
this number to something like 80% initially. This will limit your processor to 80% and
will save power but you will lose some performance obviously, especially when running demanding
programs, so if it’s not worth it then you can return to here to change it back to 100%.
If you find that 80% doesn’t make much of a difference to the performance, then you
could even go lower to save more energy. Remember to click apply to save any changes that you’ve
made. The third method to reduce power consumption
is to lower the brightness of your screen. Although technically not your PC, I would
still class it as part of the setup. You cannot change the brightness within Windows 10 if
you have a desktop, so this needs to be done by pressing the buttons on your monitor. This
method will differ depending on your monitor’s manufacturer but reducing the brightness will
save power and your eyes will thank you too! Let’s move on to the fourth method.
The next method is to run the power troubleshooter. This is a tool that comes with Windows 10
and it should help us find any specific problems that could be causing your PC to use excess
power and energy. To run the power troubleshooter, first go to the main settings page. You can
get there by clicking on the cog icon within the start menu. In settings, go to update
and security. Now find troubleshoot from the options on the left side. In the troubleshoot
settings, scroll down until you find the one called power. Click on it and then select
run the troubleshooter. Allow Windows to look for and suggest any possible solutions that
might help. The fifth method to save power on your Windows
10 computer is to prevent certain apps from running when you start up your PC. Not only
will the apps cause your PC to take longer to start up, but they will run in the background
which will result in your PC having to do more work than necessary. To view and disable
start-up programs you first need to go to the task manager. You can get there by right
clicking on the taskbar at the bottom and then choosing task manager. In the task manager
find the start-up tab and now you should see the list of programs that can automatically
start when you turn on your computer. You’ll need to go down the list and look for any
programs you know you don’t use, or those that you don’t use regularly. Disabling
them in here won’t make them stop working, however they might take a bit longer to run
when you want to use them. But of course, if you don’t use them that often, this won’t
make too much difference. To disable an application in here, all you need to do is right click
on it and then choose ‘disable’. It’s helpful to look at the start up impact column
to help make your decision on whether it’s worth disabling them. You can always enable
the program again by right clicking on it and selecting enable. This will also help
your PC to run much quicker and smoother too! Let’s move on to the sixth method.
The next method to save energy is to close any programs that are running in the background.
This is similar to disabling the start-up programs and will work in the same way to
reduce power consumption. If you find the small up arrow towards the right side of the
taskbar and click on it, you’ll see some of the apps that are currently running in
the background. Choose a program that you don’t use and right click on it. If I choose
Chrome for example, I can prevent it from running in the background which it is currently
set to do. Also, click on exit for any of the apps you aren’t using to close them
fully. Running fewer programs in the background will speed up your PC as well as easing the
load on the components for it to run using less energy.
The seventh method is to turn off or disable any additional features your PC has such as
Bluetooth or WiFi when you are not using them. Thankfully, in Windows 10 it’s easy to turn
off Bluetooth if you have it. All you need to do is go to the main settings page which
can be accessed by clicking on the cog icon within the start menu. In settings, click
on devices and if your PC has Bluetooth then you can turn it off with the slider at the
top. For when you want to turn off Wi-Fi, that can be done by clicking on the network
icon in the taskbar and then by clicking on where it says Wi-Fi at the bottom. Let’s
move on to the eighth method to save power. The next method to reduce energy consumption
on your PC is to simply unplug any peripheral devices from your computer if you have any
when you are not using them. Any device, such as a wired mouse or USB stick might draw unnecessary
power from your PC so if you keep them unplugged when not in use, you will slightly lower power
consumption. Let’s now move on to method nine.
For the ninth method we’re going to first use Windows 10’s own disk clean-up tool.
This will help us remove any unnecessary files that might slow down your computer. If we
clean our drive, it makes our PC more optimised and it will run more efficiently and therefore
use less power. To get to the automatic clean-up tool, simply search disk clean up and click
on it to open it. Check the boxes of any of the files you are happy to delete, such as
the contents of the recycle bin. Please double check before deleting anything as I don’t
want you delete any files you want to keep. Click OK and then delete files once you’re
happy to run it. As well as disk clean up, if you now go to the main settings page, which
can be accessed by clicking on the cog icon within the start menu. And now click on system
and then choose storage from the options on the left. You can first turn on storage sense
at the top if it isn’t already and now click on the blue “configure storage sense or
run it now” link below this to open the settings. You can change the frequency that
storage sense will run at the top, feel free to make this whatever you want depending on
your situation. If you want, you can check the box below this to delete temporary files
and set it to delete files that have been in your recycle bin and downloads folder for
over 30 days. If you’re confident you don’t need any of these files, then you can run
storage sense now by clicking on the clean now button at the bottom. This should free
up some space and improve your PC’s performance. Also, if you go back to the main storage settings
page by clicking the back button, you can see the types of files that are taking up
the most space on your PC. You might notice that apps take up most of the space and it’s
easy to uninstall an app from here, all you need to do is click on where it says apps
and features, then find the apps you want to delete. Click on them and select uninstall.
You can do this for some of the other sections in the storage settings, for example deleting
videos if they take up a lot of the space on your computer.
The final method to reduce power consumption is to physically clean your computer and especially
the vents. The cooler your PC can run the less the fans will be required and the more
efficient it will be, lowering its power usage. And so those are my ten easy methods to reduce
power consumption on your Windows 10 PC. If you have any questions, then let me know in
the comments. Also click on the card now to watch my video showing you ten easy things
you can do now to speed up your Windows 10 PC. I really hope I was able to help you today,
remember to leave a like and feel free to subscribe if the video helped. Thanks so much
for watching and I will see you in another video!