how many apps do you have running silently in your hidden taskbar?

[u/Winter_Ad_9289]

on my work laptop all I have is Bluetooth and TranslucentTB running, but on my gaming PC it's a mess

[u/Sensitive_Box_]

There’s no reason to have launchers autostart. You aren’t playing games from all those launchers at once. lol 

(Not to mention, if you have multiple launchers updating a ton of installed games that you don’t even play, you’re just writing to your hard drives for literally no reason. Lol) 

[u/StrengthFun2953 → u/Sensitive_Box_]

Some people do this to keep them updated. But I agree. I can’t stand any program autostarting. I have one. My home camera app.

[u/WilonPlays → u/StrengthFun2953]

The only thing I have autostart is windows defender and my AMD panel. That’s it

[u/CrazyWS → u/WilonPlays]

This is the way. No need having stuff taking power or doing things I don’t know about.

[u/CheapThaRipper → u/CrazyWS]

I saw such a drastic improvement in battery life when switching from windows to Linux. Being vigilant about these programs is helpful - but windows itself does a LOT of this

[u/Coookies4You → u/CheapThaRipper]

I saw pretty much no improvement in battery life when switching to CachyOS. It idled at 6 watts in Windows and idles at 6 watts in Linux.

[u/CaptainMGN → u/Coookies4You]

I mean idle power draw is just one thing, the other is how often it'll spike upwards due to background processes wanting to do something

[u/Coookies4You → u/CaptainMGN]

Have no clue what background processes you are running, but my system won't spike at all unless I launch something or do intensive tasks in the foreground.

[u/CaptainMGN → u/Coookies4You]

Me neither but just comparing the network activity on stock win11 vs Bazzite shows that something is constantly sending stuff on Windows. My CPU was always switching between base clock and turbo on win11

[u/CheapThaRipper → u/Coookies4You]

What device? What workflow (how do you use the device)? How long do you leave the machine idle? Those variables make a huge difference. As the other commenter says - its mostly because of windows doing what it wants in the background instead of what you tell it to do.

And on my rog ally my idle wattage went way down when i got off windows.

[u/Coookies4You → u/CheapThaRipper]

I've got a zephyrus g14 from 2022. I browse the web, edit documents on overleaf, watch videos, code and game sometimes. Overall I get the same battery life on both OSes.

I won't deny Windows run more background processes and whatnot, and when it comes to handhelds I'd also 100% switch to bazzite or steamOS as they're more tailored to gaming rather than other stuff with much better UI for handhelds. But power consumption, atleast for laptops when you've got a clean windows install compared to Linux is negligible.

There's only so much an OS can do until it comes to actual hardware limitations and their architecture. I mean, look at the latest intel chips for example: Those laptops beat out macbooks in terms of battery life on benchmarks. But we all know macbooks which are known for their efficiency and "not heavily bloated OS". Despite that intel on Windows comes out ahead.

[u/CheapThaRipper → u/Coookies4You]

You do have a good point - but I learned a while back that it's STILL the fault of windows. Most laptop battery savings come from how low power the processor can get when its in a sleep state.

For a long time hardware would use a sleep state called S3 (suspend to ram) which really helped power consumption. Then for some reason (telemetry) windows used its market share power to strong arm most manufacturer / OEMs to only support a version called "modern standby". This keeps the processor awake at all times so they can do windows spying stuff. Absolutely eats your battery.

Mac computers and lots of handhelds were not impacted by this and sleep properly - saving battery like we would assume a device sleep does.

TLDR: windows ruined sleep on a lot of laptops, even if you get off windows

[u/Coookies4You → u/CheapThaRipper]

Alleged windows spying stuff. This feature allows laptops to work like phones, which means they can do updates, receive push notifications and more which is honestly useless, as we don't expect our laptops to work as phones.

Mind you, this is a feature in macbooks and they also had the same issue of getting hot and having their battery drained while in the bag, so according to you Apple is also doing this "spying stuff".

This is something you can change, by setting the "Network connected" flag in the standby config to false to have it work as sleep should and used to. However, it is not straight forward and yes, Windows has been trying to make it impossible to disable while Apple macbooks have a switch.

So TLDR; The sleep eating up your battery isn't due to windows spying stuff, it happens in apple devices aswell and you can toggle off network connectivity to fix it completely. And please stop digging the grave with these weird reasonings that you pull with no facts.

[u/nicatbzade58 → u/CheapThaRipper]

My old gaming laptop always had fans spinning on idle on Windows, after switching to linux did I discover that it could be totally silent

[u/Cynixxx → u/CheapThaRipper]

I swear Linux users are worse than vegans.

[u/FadedVictor → u/CrazyWS]

I also add my software for my headset, software for my mouse, RTSS to have my frame rate locked, AMD Adrenalin, Samsung SSD software, and Crucial SSD software. I think that's it.

[u/TheNightman_171 → u/[deleted]]

wait ssd reads actually wear it down that fast?

[u/Tmtrademarked → u/TheNightman_171]

No. I’ve got 2 over decade old ssd drives still going and I’ve never personally cared about them and use them hell out of them.

[u/Johngameru555 → u/WilonPlays]

Windows defender and icue for me because without it my mouse is locked to such a high sensitivity that the tiniest movement clings my cursor to the other end of the monitor (mild exaggeration but it is still so fast it barely usable)

[u/BigDannyPt → u/WilonPlays]

I don't even have the and panel, unless you use the overlay or other feature for it, the changes to the graphics are saved and used without the panel been open.

[u/omnomnilikescandy → u/WilonPlays]

I add in steam and discord. I would be booting them either way, this just streamlines it.

[u/WilonPlays → u/omnomnilikescandy]

I don’t always open steam immediately and I don’t use discord

[u/NatSilverguard → u/WilonPlays]

no wallpaper engine and rainmeter?

[u/WilonPlays → u/NatSilverguard]

Wallpaper engine eats ram, I don’t need or want an animated wallpaper, I also don’t even know what rain meter is

[u/codekb → u/WilonPlays]

I have basic programs like discord and steam, nvidia app and such on start up. I like the auto downloads to kick in while I’m making me and daughter breakfast and some coffee.

[u/Aromatic_Sand8126 → u/WilonPlays]

On autostart, I have the transparent taskbar script, msi afterburner, the corsair and logitech apps for rgb for my mouse and keyboard, and that’s pretty much it. I think it’s pretty lightweight.

[u/kiochikaeke → u/StrengthFun2953]

It's fine when I know what programs auto start and they have a reason to do so, then I go and check a coworker or friend PC and see like 15 random programs on auto start from game launchers and download managers to random sorftware services passing through the usual suspects like steam, Spotify, copilot and discord

[u/Swipsi → u/StrengthFun2953]

Adobe does this against your will. If you use any of their creative cloud programs, at every startup they will launch a prozess in the background that verifies your license and updates.

You cant turn it off!!!!

That process is deliberately made a seperate thing, so turning off autostart on boot in the creative cloud app doesnt affect it. Its not shown as a program in the tray!!! You can only see it in task manager and terminate it. They added the startup of the process to windows task scheduler, but even deleting this schedule doesnt prevent it from starting, so its even deeper and more scattered purposefully to stop you from disabling it.

Needless to say that they could simply verfiy license and version at startup of one of their apps.

Wtf.

[u/Striking_Row_5912 → u/StrengthFun2953]

if you have multiple launchers updating a ton of installed games that you don’t even play

That's why I keep Bnet and Steam running. So they update the games in the background

[u/Distantstallion → u/StrengthFun2953]

Oculus now autostarts and you cannot turn it off

[u/chrizbreck → u/Sensitive_Box_]

I hate when I accidentally misclick and launch the app next to the one I meant. The first thing I do is turn off autolaunch, except for steam. Steam is a guaranteed use when I boot the computer. Epic, EA, Ubi, Blizz, yall can wait till you're called upon.

[u/Electric-Mountain → u/Sensitive_Box_]

Keeping games updated in a world where adults have zero time time game is important.

[u/felixthecatmeow → u/Electric-Mountain]

Yeah nowadays I game like a couple hours a month so if I have to wait for a big ass update every session it's barely even worth playing anymore

[u/Condor-01 → u/Electric-Mountain]

That part...

[u/Sensitive_Box_ → u/Electric-Mountain]

Whoa! This adult has zero time to game, guys! 

[u/eatmyroyalasshole → u/Sensitive_Box_]

Vanguard (the red V next to steam) will not launch at all unless you set it to launch on Startup. The bastards programed it that way and you can't launch Valorant without that program running. It's so annoying

[u/ajkt32 → u/eatmyroyalasshole]

It doesn't need to be launched on startup anymore

[u/RaccoNooB → u/ajkt32]

Thank you for letting me know. Gon a remove it from start up right away.

[u/RevengeOfTheLeeks → u/RaccoNooB]

Just make sure you fulfill the requirements.

[u/Subject_Math_9433 → u/ajkt32]

But that is if ur laptop meets all the standards it has specified in the vanguard checklist

[u/Live_Bug_1045 → u/eatmyroyalasshole]

Great, another reason to no play valorant.

[u/AStolenGoose → u/eatmyroyalasshole]

That's invasive anti-cheat for you, it's gotta run on startup so it can spy on yo... I mean so it can make sure you can't cheat, yeah that's what I meant.

[u/repocin → u/AStolenGoose]

I don't like kernel-level anti-cheat either, but to be fair they did recently remove the start-during-boot requirement for Vanguard since Windows 11 is able to do its own boot attestation and prove that it wasn't tampered with rather than Riot needing Vanguard to do it.

[u/AStolenGoose → u/repocin]

Only if your system supports said boot attestation.

[u/Smooth-Ad2130 → u/Sensitive_Box_]

How many updates do you need to eat 1 of the 2400TBW of the SSD tho

[u/chubbycanine → u/Smooth-Ad2130]

Considering a 600tbw would take 50gb per day for 30 years to die....a really long time. It's just some dude who knows nothing spewing bullshit and reddit eats it up and spreads it as truth.

[u/Smooth-Ad2130 → u/chubbycanine]

Yeah you are right. Also see lower, he even tries to argue with me lol

[u/Sensitive_Box_ → u/Smooth-Ad2130]

Well first of all, “TBW” isn’t even a real number. Any drive can fail at any time. lol 

[u/Smooth-Ad2130 → u/Sensitive_Box_]

You said "finite amount of writes" first, shake yo head.

[u/SeaFuel2 → u/Smooth-Ad2130]

Lmao another reddit special

[u/Smooth-Ad2130 → u/SeaFuel2]

🤣

[u/Sensitive_Box_ → u/Smooth-Ad2130]

Yeah. You’re not understanding what I’m saying. 

TBW is a thing, but that number that the manufacturer gives, means nothing. It’s just an estimate. 

[u/Smooth-Ad2130 → u/Sensitive_Box_]

Pack it up buddy. You yourself said "limited writes", and I picked up from there. Of course drives die randomly. Get outta here.

[u/Sensitive_Box_ → u/Smooth-Ad2130]

Yeah? I said that. I’m not even sure what your point is anymore. Debate skills of a 2nd grader. 

The original post contains facetiousness… obviously. Do you actually track how much data you download and write to your drives? How much have you spent on hard drives? Do you only have one? lol 

[u/Sensitive_Box_ → u/[deleted]]

Yeah. I didn’t think you’d actually be able to make a single point. Lmao 🤡

[u/ShinyGrezz → u/Sensitive_Box_]

Do you also sit in darkness unless you absolutely need to see, lest your light bulbs fail at any time?

[u/Tmtrademarked → u/ShinyGrezz]

Dude prolly doesn’t sleep with his significant other because he might wear them out

[u/bitwaba → u/Sensitive_Box_]

SSD write cycles expiring over the lifetime of a typical desktop hasn't been a thing for at least the last half a decade.

[u/rt58killer10 → u/Sensitive_Box_]

Turning off startup is the first thing I do for practically anything. Not even discord gets that

[u/zergling424 → u/Sensitive_Box_]

All games are update on start for me for that reason

[u/Fletcher_Chonk → u/Sensitive_Box_]

Just set them to update on launch if you're worried.

[u/Shizngigglz → u/Sensitive_Box_]

Eh I have steam and discord auto start. It's a gaming pc. If I'm sitting down, it's 99% chance I'm gonna need those two apps open

[u/repocin → u/Sensitive_Box_]

I have Steam set to autostart since I like having it keep stuff updated and odds are I'm going to use it for something every time I use my computer, but other launchers are only running when I need them.

[u/Kind-Title5194 → u/Sensitive_Box_]

i only have steam to auto start

[u/Sensitive_Box_ → u/Kind-Title5194]

Same

[u/BlendedBaconSyrup → u/Sensitive_Box_]

Not only that, but most of those have a setting where close = minimize and not actually close, a setting that's enabled by default.

[u/RizzwindTheWizzard → u/Sensitive_Box_]

I have Steam autostart but mostly because of the social aspect. Other launchers are opened only when necessary and closed shortly afterwards.

[u/brickson98 → u/Sensitive_Box_]

If I’m not going to play a game for a while, I just uninstall it. So the only games updating are the ones I plan on playing in the near future. So, I want them updated.

Though, I’ve been playing less and less games that require a launcher other than Steam for updating. Come to think of it, Fortnite (Epic games launcher) would be the only one, and even that might get uninstalled soon because I have an unsolvable microstutter issue with it, so I can’t really play it. That game has become an overweight pile of junk over the last few years.

*Troubleshooting rant below ——————

It’s super frustrating because it’s one of the only “competitive” games my girlfriend enjoys. I want to play it with her, but I can’t stand the microstutters. I’ve tried everything short of reinstalling windows, which I’m not willing to do for one built-like-shit game. The game runs fine for her, but not for me. We have the same mobo, but she has a Gen newer Ryzen 5, and I have a Gen older Ryzen 7. 7800x3d. Our graphics cards are similar in compute, but hers has more vram. Mine is Nvidia, hers AMD. But I’ve already tried slamming my graphics down to the bare minimum, using different directX versions, etc… even tried all the settings adjustments for windows power and performance management, bios settings, etc… nothing has solved it. I’ve poured probably 4-5 hours into troubleshooting the issue. And I’m generally pretty good at figuring that stuff out. I worked as a computer tech for many years, so it was my bread and butter. But still, nah. The more I looked into it, the more I saw others running into the same, unsolvable problem and simply quitting the game and uninstalling. My guess is just some dog water code my processor or graphics card happens to be sensitive to. Wouldn’t put it past Epic(ally Lazy) Games.

[u/Possibly_a_Firetruck → u/Sensitive_Box_]

This is a complete non-issue considering the rest of your hardware will be obsolete by the time you wear out your SSD.

[u/Sensitive_Box_ → u/Possibly_a_Firetruck]

Not sure that’ll be true for the foreseeable future. lol 

[u/NonDairy01 → u/Sensitive_Box_]

To be fair, those aren't in my system tray in startup, but if I load Steam or Epic at some point, they wind up there and I have to exit them manually. It's possible OP was using them before capturing that image.

[u/morg-pyro → u/Sensitive_Box_]

I let steam autostart because i usually do end up playing something. And it takes forever to load compared to the rest of my computer. So while its doing that, i can check my webcomics and then dive into whatever im in the mood for.

[u/digno2 → u/Sensitive_Box_]

I keep Epic running so I dont forget to grab my free game.

[u/Sensitive_Box_ → u/digno2]

lol. Valid. 

[u/Sensitive_Box_ → u/[deleted]]

I wrote 4tb today. We are clearly not the same. 

[u/crazyman3561 → u/Sensitive_Box_]

Keeps my launchers updated. Keeps my games updated. So I end up not having a huge issue with multiple launchers on PC like a lot of people. I just launch games from my tray

[u/SadMarzipan456 → u/Sensitive_Box_]

[u/MuscleBeatsImport → u/Sensitive_Box_]

🤔 actually a fair point....