What is the Efficiency Mode?
This is a new feature that Microsoft has enabled for app developers – With Efficiency Mode, Microsoft is allowing developers to optimize their apps for saving battery life. This is supposed to improve overall power consumption by lowering the fan noise and improving the thermal performance of your PC. This feature uses the new EcoQoS level framework, which should balance the performance of your PC with power efficiency. But sometimes this has the opposite effect. The Efficiency Mode has become a problem mostly for 3rd party browser users. Microsoft Edge seems to be much more equipped to deal with this bug. The most affected 3rd party browser seems to be Chrome, but this issue is present for Firefox and Brave as well.
What causes the Efficiency Mode issue?
This problem might be caused by many factors. Keep in mind that this feature is supposed to improve the performance and power consumption of apps, so this issue might be triggered by many reasons.
Browser settings: Some browsers have a few options in the settings which should improve the performance of the browser and lower consumption. But in some cases, these settings are the ones affecting the browser because it limits the power that it can use. 3rd party extensions: Some extensions that you are using on your browser could make it run slower. One of the known extensions that causes the Efficiency Mode issue is McAfee WebAdvisor.Windows Updates: In many cases, this issue has appeared after installing the latest Windows updates. The updates might affect your browser because they are conflicting with each other.Display Settings: Windows has a setting that is made for improving the battery of your device. In some situations, this setting was the culprit for this issue because it affects the performance of your computer.
How to fix this issue?
Since there is no exact culprit known, there are some methods that will help you improve the performance of your browser. Here are the methods you need in order to fix the Efficiency Mode issue:
1. Turn off Memory Saver and Energy Saver (Chrome only)
You should start by disabling the Memory Saver and Energy Saver from your Chrome browser. These settings should improve the memory and energy that your browser consumes, but in many cases, this was causing bad performance. All you need to do is to go to the Chrome Settings and access the Performance section. Here you will find the settings that you need to disable. Here is how you can do this:
2. Disable the McAfee WebAdvisor extension
This issue might be also caused by some extensions that you have on your browser. These extensions could lower the performance of it, making them run slow and freeze. For Chrome browsers, one of the most well-known extensions that affect performance is the McAfee WebAdvisior. In some cases, this extension has become problematic after the subscriptions have disappeared. But in case you are using it, you should try to disable it to see if the Efficiency Mode problem will be fixed. Here are the steps on how to do this:
3. Revert back Windows updates
In many cases, this issue has appeared after the users have updated their Windows. This suggests that the Efficiency Mode issue might be caused by some issues related to the new Windows updates installed. In this case, you should be able to fix this issue by reverting the Windows updates back to the ones that you had before encountering this issue. Here are the steps on how to do this:
4. Disable a Brightness setting
The Efficiency Mode issue might be also caused by a Brightness setting which is active in the background. This option is made to help improve the battery by optimizing the content shown and brightness. But in some cases, this was the principal cause for the low frames and freezing problems. In this case, all you need to do is to go to the Display section in the Windows Settings and disable the option. Here’s a quick guide on how to do this:
5. Disable Efficiency Mode from Task Manager
Another way to fix this issue is to manually disable the Efficiency Mode from the Task Manager. This will temporarily turn off the Efficiency Mode, but it will not take a lot of time until the process will automatically turn back on. When you do this, you need to disable the Efficiency Mode on every browser process that has the icon active. But after some time, you will have to repeat the process because your computer will enable them again. All you need to do is to go to the Task Manager and disable the Efficiency Mode for the browser you want. In case you don’t know how to do this, here are the steps:
6. Disable Efficiency Mode from the browser (Firefox only)
If the Efficiency Mode issue appears on the Firefox browser, fortunately for you the browser allows you to disable the option directly from the browser. This can’t be done from the Settings of Firefox, you will have to access the Advanced Preferences. There you will be able to disable the Efficiency Mode. Here is a guide that will show you how to do it:
7. Run Chrome for Windows 8 in Compatibility mode
Another way that you can make the Efficiency Mode issue disappear is to set your Chrome to run for Windows 8. This will improve your frames and get rid of the issues brought by the Efficiency Mode. All you need to do is to go to the Properties of Chrome and set it to run for Windows 8. Note: This method has been confirmed on Chrome browsers, but you can try to use it on other browsers to see if it works. Here is how you can do this:
