Windows 11 offers a variety of performance improvements and features not found in previous versions of Microsoft’s operating system, but poor battery life has been a common complaint since the company rolled out the update in 2021. There are several steps you can take, such as reducing the brightness of your laptop screen, uninstalling unnecessary or unused apps, and switching to a more conservative power plan. But what if there was a simple trick to extend battery life? Read on to learn how to improve your laptop’s battery by modifying some Windows 11 settings.
While we’re focusing on Windows 11 here, keep in mind that these steps apply to Windows 10 computers as well. However, Microsoft will end support for Windows 10 in a few months, so you may need to upgrade to Windows 11.
To prevent overuse of resources and improve battery life in Windows 11, you can disable the built-in Windows Search Indexer service. According to Microsoft’s support documentation, it runs in the background and builds a massive “index database” that can contain less than 30,000 entries for an average user and more than 4,00,000 entries for more active users with multiple files.
Microsoft says that when it goes beyond this point, you may see performance-related issues. If you find that this indexing service has a negative impact on your laptop’s battery life, you may choose to disable it. You can also monitor the value of items indexed on your laptop running Windows 11 with just a few clicks.
How to extend Windows 11 battery life by disabling Windows Search Indexer
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Press the Windows (Super) key to open the Start menu.
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type services.msc and press Enter.
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right click Windows Searchthen click characteristic.
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Select from the “Startup type” drop-down menu disabled peoplethen click stop button.
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Close the Services window and restart the laptop.
Performing these actions will prevent the Windows Search Indexer from running when the computer starts and will also completely disable the service from running. You may not get search results immediately after disabling this service, but you should see improvements in battery life and performance.
Disable Windows Search Indexer service (click to expand)
Photo credit: Screenshot/Windows
How to Check and Optimize Windows 11 Search Index Database
- Open the Settings app through the Start menu.
- choose Privacy and security > search window., then check the graph next to index.
- Navigate to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\Windows
- right click windows.db and select characteristicand note the file size.
- Open the Settings app again and click Privacy and security > search window > Add excluded folderswhich tells Windows not to index files at the specified location.
- Finally, navigate to search window > Advanced indexing options > advanced > reconstruction.
You need to wait approximately 24 hours, which is how long it takes for Windows 11 to rebuild the search index database. As long as you enable the service, indexing will be performed in the background. You can also manually enable and disable the service, especially if you’re on the go and want to avoid excessive drain on your laptop’s battery.
