Switch some background process off when on battery

[davitof]

Some processes eat power for non-urgent tasks. When on battery, Process Lasso could disable those processes and re-enable them when connected to the mains again. Examples: search indexer, disk defragmentation. I suggest using a list of processes. This list would be populated with default values depending on the Windows version. The user would be able to edit this list by removing or adding items or just unchecking them to exclude them temporarily from automatic disabling.

I know of another software which does this but it does not allow to change the list

[BenYeeHua]

About the search indexer, you can try this.

There's a group policy setting for this. Go to Start -> Run (or Winkey+R), type gpedit.msc. Navigate to Local Computer Policy -> Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Search. Enable the policy "Prevent indexing when running on battery power to conserver energy"

And ya, it can be a new feature(for the watchdog/energy saver).
If you wanna last longer, you can use windows 8, as they changing "core-parking" into parking the whole core, not the "fake-core".
So you can keep i3/i5 with 1 core, 2 threads active, and 2 core, 4 threads active with an i7.

[edkiefer]

check task scheduler , you can set condition to only run when plugged into AC now .
example windows defender by default is set to only start at idle conditions and only start when plugged into AC .

Hmm, windows disk defrag is already set to not run when on battery .

OP: are you using 3rd party disk defrag ? or is schedulrr not working, setup for you right .

[Jeremy Collake]

That is a good idea except for a technical detail . Pausing tasks like that is a very bad idea that could massive problems. It simply is not how Windows or Windows applications were designed to operate. Data loss is the first of many possible outcomes if that were to be done.

Now, CLOSING those applications is another story. This could be done ... and is perhaps what you meant. Hmm, I will have to consider this. I'm working on major additions, and it would be a good one if I can represent it in a coherent way. It still wouldn't be 100% safe, but could be coded conservatively so that if it can't gracefully close a program, it doesn't forcibly do so.

[BenYeeHua]

Ya, clicking the X(close button) is safe than force close(kill).
And I has a better battery life with windows 8, as it is for tablet, so it maybe stopping most of the function that don't stop in windwos vista/7.
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Pausing tasks like that is a very bad idea that could massive problems.

Except it is a Metro apps and designed to do that.

[edkiefer]

How about having exemption/restrict app list per power config, so if your on energy low battery profile you can set apps (backround) to not run, that are on list .
run in higher power config and they will run . This would be plus for either 3rd party app that don't use task scheduler or when it doesn't work right .

[BenYeeHua]

And I wanna ask, how many background process that you has using the CPU most of the time?
I has using Process Monitor to record which background process is using most of CPU time, and I found most of them just less than 10 second...
So I just leave the services remain running without disable them to increase maybe 1-5 minutes battery life.

[edkiefer]

And I wanna ask, how many background process that you has using the CPU most of the time?
I has using Process Monitor to record which background process is using most of CPU time, and I found most of them just less than 10 second...
So I just leave the services remain running without disable them to increase maybe 1-5 minutes battery life.

I agree with you, "I" don't see any issue with background processes . having moved from XP to win7 I do see many more processes pop up and down, but hardly any are noticeable as to performance and many close after a bit .
My comment above only applied if bitsum deemed a need for it .

[davitof]

OP: are you using 3rd party disk defrag ? or is schedulrr not working, setup for you right .

3dr party: Smart Defrag. Smart Defrag has an option to automatically disable itself when the machine is on battery, but strangely it still shows a balloon tip saying it is running in the background even when I'm on battery. I could try to check, but this is difficult to be sure because Smart Defrag is supposed to wait until I stop doing anything before resuming defragging.

[davitof]

About the search indexer, you can try this.And ya, it can be a new feature(for the watchdog/energy saver).
If you wanna last longer, you can use windows 8, as they changing "core-parking" into parking the whole core, not the "fake-core".
So you can keep i3/i5 with 1 core, 2 threads active, and 2 core, 4 threads active with an i7.

Nice. Thanks.

[davitof]

That is a good idea except for a technical detail . Pausing tasks like that is a very bad idea that could massive problems. It simply is not how Windows or Windows applications were designed to operate. Data loss is the first of many possible outcomes if that were to be done.

Now, CLOSING those applications is another story. This could be done ... and is perhaps what you meant. Hmm, I will have to consider this. I'm working on major additions, and it would be a good one if I can represent it in a coherent way. It still wouldn't be 100% safe, but could be coded conservatively so that if it can't gracefully close a program, it doesn't forcibly do so.

I am a bit surprised: any user can disable any service any time, so why couldn't Process Lasso to the same? Or are you implying that Microsoft forgot to put a big red warning above this option?

[davitof]

And I wanna ask, how many background process that you has using the CPU most of the time?
I has using Process Monitor to record which background process is using most of CPU time, and I found most of them just less than 10 second...
So I just leave the services remain running without disable them to increase maybe 1-5 minutes battery life.

I guess for most services it is indeed not worth the trouble. But there are exceptions. For example, I think I'd really try to disable my Comodo Firewall because it is doing a lot of access to disk and IMO this is not worth it when I'm not connected. Of course, I'd have to create a special profile "Not connected" because when I'm on battery and surfing via wifi, I definitely want Comodo to be awake!

[davitof]

There's a group policy setting for this. Go to Start -> Run (or Winkey+R), type gpedit.msc. Navigate to Local Computer Policy -> Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Search. Enable the policy "Prevent indexing when running on battery power to conserver energy"

About the search indexer, you can try this.And ya, it can be a new feature(for the watchdog/energy saver).
If you wanna last longer, you can use windows 8, as they changing "core-parking" into parking the whole core, not the "fake-core".
So you can keep i3/i5 with 1 core, 2 threads active, and 2 core, 4 threads active with an i7.

I am a bit surprised: any user can disable any service any time, so why couldn't Process Lasso to the same? Or are you implying that Microsoft forgot to put a big red warning above this option?

... but wouldn't this work only on Pro versions? Do Premium versions of Windows allow to use gpedit now?

[Jeremy Collake]

On Topic @OP, selectively allowing *some* safe tasks to be paused is a possibility here. These applications could even be 'tested' by doing controlled pauses for a period of time before the user approves them for management. So, this idea has evolved. I think I could implement it fairly easily. However, I need to improve my polish a bit.

[BenYeeHua]

On Topic @OP, selectively allowing *some* safe tasks to be paused is a possibility here. These applications could even be 'tested' by doing controlled pauses for a period of time before the user approves them for management. So, this idea has evolved. I think I could implement it fairly easily. However, I need to improve my polish a bit.

Ya, and the real solution-reduce the CPU usage of the software, is a hard work for the devs of all software in this world.
So we can only pause/stop the software until we need it while on the battery.

... but wouldn't this work only on Pro versions? Do Premium versions of Windows allow to use gpedit now?

Ya, and microsoft don't giving the registry location for the setting in gpedit...
So it is so bad that it don't giving the gpedit for all version, and making difficult to access the advanced function.
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3dr party: Smart Defrag. Smart Defrag has an option to automatically disable itself when the machine is on battery, but strangely it still shows a balloon tip saying it is running in the background even when I'm on battery. I could try to check, but this is difficult to be sure because Smart Defrag is supposed to wait until I stop doing anything before resuming defragging.

You can ask the devs of Smart Defrag, it might be a bug.
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I am a bit surprised: any user can disable any service any time, so why couldn't Process Lasso to the same? Or are you implying that Microsoft forgot to put a big red warning above this option?

Ya, it can be disable, but most of the important services can't be disable, and many problem is causing by disable the services.
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I guess for most services it is indeed not worth the trouble. But there are exceptions. For example, I think I'd really try to disable my Comodo Firewall because it is doing a lot of access to disk and IMO this is not worth it when I'm not connected. Of course, I'd have to create a special profile "Not connected" because when I'm on battery and surfing via wifi, I definitely want Comodo to be awake!

As you are the paid user of Comodo, you can ask the devs for the function-disable the firewall if the computer don't connect.
Or ask them to reduce the access for the HardDisk.
I wonder why the Firewall need to access the HardDisk?
Maybe it is writing the log?

[davitof]

I wonder why the Firewall need to access the HardDisk?
Maybe it is writing the log?

Because the firewall developers are putting more and more antivirus-like functions in their firewalls. Just as some antivirus developers are including firewall-like functions in their application (I am thinking of Avast here). I am not saying this is a good thing. I disabled all the "antivirus" functions of Comodo I could, but it still scans my disk and eats a lot of CPU at times. I am thinking of switching to another firewall, I feel Comodo is getting to heavy on my system. But this is getting OT.

Yes, the log might be part of it, but I don't see what log it would have to write when I am not connected ;-)

[BenYeeHua]

Because the firewall developers are putting more and more antivirus-like functions in their firewalls. Just as some antivirus developers are including firewall-like functions in their application (I am thinking of Avast here). I am not saying this is a good thing. I disabled all the "antivirus" functions of Comodo I could, but it still scans my disk and eats a lot of CPU at times. I am thinking of switching to another firewall, I feel Comodo is getting to heavy on my system. But this is getting OT.

Yes, the log might be part of it, but I don't see what log it would have to write when I am not connected ;-)

I always OT.
But we can learning more thing from it, just don't OT.
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You can see what it is doing, just using Process Monitor to see what it is doing.