Go Green Or Else: Microsoft To Disable ‘High Performance’ Power Profile In Windows 10

Windows 10 is shaping up to be an amazing apology for Windows 8, and while not everything might be ideal (read: Start menu), there’s little doubt that it’ll be the best Windows OS since 7.

As we’ve just discovered, though, there’s one feature (if we can call it that) coming to Windows 10 that some may not appreciate – especially PC enthusiasts. In an attempt to dramatically reduce PC power consumption worldwide, Windows 10 (and subsequently the next tentative preview build, 10099), will remove the ‘High Performance’ power profile, one that greatly prolongs the amount of time it takes to put the PC and monitor to sleep.

With any other Windows version, that removal wouldn’t matter too much; you could simply create a custom profile that mimics the other profile’s goals. While you can still create custom power profiles in Windows 10, the available options have been heavily tweaked, as the screenshot below highlights:

In Windows 8.1 (and the current 10049 Windows 10 preview build), both the display and PC can be set to go to sleep after 5 hours, or “never”, but moving forward, the amount of hours is being cut down to 3, and the “never” option is being removed entirely.

It goes without saying that these changes are bold, and could be downright frustrating for some, but there is a potential upside here. Because of these changes, Microsoft has overhauled how the computer detects inactivity; in effect, it’s far less strict. If you’re torrenting, for example, or running a game unattended, the OS should theoretically acknowledge it, thus negating the options set.

What’s clear to me is that this is going to result in people having to install even more third-party software (in the same vein of Start menu replacements) in order to trick the computer into thinking it’s being used. While I admit that I sometimes leave my PC on even when it shouldn’t be, Windows is already enough of a nuisance for rebooting the OS just because of an auto-update – this power profile move takes things a bit too far, in my opinion.

/April Fools’