New battery options and usage data coming to Windows 10

Windows battery control

The main advantage of laptops is being able to use them without having to be connected to the network. However, this can also be a problem, since if we get lost, we can run out of battery and lose the job that we had open. Windows 10 allows us to always have the remaining battery in sight , and to switch between different modes with a couple of clicks depending on whether we need more performance or more autonomy. However, very soon, the operating system is going to give us much more control over the PC’s battery and how we use it.

This weekend, Microsoft has released the new build 21313 of Windows 10 . This new version of the operating system brings a significant number of system-wide fixes, as well as some minor news. However, what Microsoft has not told is that this version of the OS brings hidden a new battery settings panel full of news and improvements.

This new Windows battery panel will allow us to control much better the use we make of the PC , where the most battery is used and how it has evolved throughout the day. Without going any further, as soon as we enter it we can see a graph that will allow us to see the evolution of the battery as the hours have passed.

Battery level W10 21H2

In addition to monitoring the battery level, we will also be able to see what the battery use has been over time. For this, we will find a tab, above the graph, which will give us much more detailed information about what has been using more battery.

Use W10 21H2 battery

As we can see, we will see how long the screen has been on, how long it has been off and even if we have had the computer in sleep mode. We can also see all the applications and programs that have used up our battery.

How to activate it

Unfortunately, Microsoft has not decided to enable these new battery options by default for users. It may not work well, or it may just be an experiment. What is certain is that this new panel is deactivated for everyone, so if we want to test it we will have to activate it ourselves.

For this, we will need a tool called “ViveTool “. This OpenSource tool allows us to activate experimental Windows features that, by default, are disabled. We open a CMD window with administrator permissions, we place ourselves in the folder where the ViveTool executable is located and we execute the following command to activate this function:

ViVeTool.exe addconfig 27296756 2Clever. The new Windows 10 battery panel should already appear in the Settings menu. If not, we will have to restart the PC for it to appear. When we get tired of it, we can disable this experimental feature by running the following command:

ViVeTool.exe delconfig 27296756 2We recall that it is only available in Windows 10 build 21313 DEV . If we are not Insider users, this command will do nothing.