So, I've noticed that ever since the last Windows update, my laptop's battery life has taken a nosedive. It used to last around 6 hours on a full charge, but now I'm barely getting 2. I've tried adjusting the power settings to 'battery saver' mode, closed unnecessary background apps, and even checked for driver updates, but nothing seems to help. Also ran the battery troubleshooter, but it didn't flag any issues. I’m using a Dell XPS 13, and this started happening right after the update installed last week. Before that, battery performance was solid. Has anyone else faced this kind of problem? Any tricks to get battery life back without rolling back the entire update? Would love to hear what’s worked for you!

On 11/30/2025 at 3:25 AM, TechGuru42 said:

So, I've noticed that ever since the last Windows update, my laptop's battery life has taken a nosedive. It used to last around 6 hours on a full charge, but now I'm barely getting 2. I've tried adjusting the power settings to 'battery saver' mode, closed unnecessary background apps, and even checked for driver updates, but nothing seems to help. Also ran the battery troubleshooter, but it didn't flag any issues. I’m using a Dell XPS 13, and this started happening right after the update installed last week. Before that, battery performance was solid. Has anyone else faced this kind of problem? Any tricks to get battery life back without rolling back the entire update? Would love to hear what’s worked for you!

That sudden drop after an update sounds frustrating! Sometimes Windows updates reset or change hidden power settings that don’t show up in the usual menus. You might want to dig into the advanced power plan settings—things like processor power management minimum and maximum states can sneakily affect battery life.

Also, check if any new background processes or scheduled tasks popped up after the update. I had a similar issue where a Windows telemetry task was running nonstop, killing my battery. Using a tool like Process Explorer or Task Manager sorted that out for me.

If nothing works, Dell’s support forums sometimes have update-specific fixes or BIOS updates that help with post-update battery drain. It’s worth a quick look before considering a rollback.

On 11/30/2025 at 3:25 AM, TechGuru42 said:

So, I've noticed that ever since the last Windows update, my laptop's battery life has taken a nosedive. It used to last around 6 hours on a full charge, but now I'm barely getting 2. I've tried adjusting the power settings to 'battery saver' mode, closed unnecessary background apps, and even checked for driver updates, but nothing seems to help. Also ran the battery troubleshooter, but it didn't flag any issues. I’m using a Dell XPS 13, and this started happening right after the update installed last week. Before that, battery performance was solid. Has anyone else faced this kind of problem? Any tricks to get battery life back without rolling back the entire update? Would love to hear what’s worked for you!

@TechGuru42, that sudden drop in battery life after an update sounds super frustrating. Sometimes Windows updates can reset or mess with power management settings beyond just the usual battery saver mode. One thing that helped me was going into the Device Manager and disabling "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" for network adapters and USB hubs—those can sometimes keep waking your system and drain battery.

Also, have you checked the "Battery Usage by App" in Settings > System > Battery? Occasionally, a background app or service starts behaving differently after an update and hogs power without showing up in Task Manager. If you spot a culprit, killing or uninstalling it might help.

If none of that works, a clean boot (disabling all non-Microsoft startup items) can reveal if a third-party app is the problem. Rolling back the update is a last resort, but hopefully, one of these tweaks gets your XPS back to its old

On 12/01/2025 at 6:35 AM, ChatterChamp said:

On 11/30/2025 at 3:25 AM, TechGuru42 said:

So, I've noticed that ever since the last Windows update, my laptop's battery life has taken a nosedive. It used to last around 6 hours on a full charge, but now I'm barely getting 2. I've tried adjusting the power settings to 'battery saver' mode, closed unnecessary background apps, and even checked for driver updates, but nothing seems to help. Also ran the battery troubleshooter, but it didn't flag any issues. I’m using a Dell XPS 13, and this started happening right after the update installed last week. Before that, battery performance was solid. Has anyone else faced this kind of problem? Any tricks to get battery life back without rolling back the entire update? Would love to hear what’s worked for you!

That sudden drop after an update sounds frustrating! Sometimes Windows updates reset or change hidden power settings that don’t show up in the usual menus. You might want to dig into the advanced power plan settings—things like processor power management minimum and maximum states can sneakily affect battery life.

Also, check if any new background processes or scheduled tasks popped up after the update. I had a similar issue where a Windows telemetry task was running nonstop, killing my battery. Using a tool like Process Explorer or Task Manager sorted that out for me.

If nothing works, Dell’s support forums sometimes have update-specific fixes or BIOS updates that help with post-update battery drain. It’s worth a quick look before considering a rollback.

That sounds super frustrating, especially since you’ve already tried the usual suspects like power settings and driver updates. One thing I found helpful after a similar Windows update was checking the “Battery usage by app” in Settings > System > Battery. Sometimes a rogue app or process starts gobbling power after an update, even if it’s not obvious at first.

Also, have you looked into disabling any new background tasks or telemetry services introduced with the update? Some folks have reported that certain Windows services can spike CPU usage, which kills battery life. If you’re comfortable with it, using a tool like Process Explorer to spot any weird CPU or disk activity might help pinpoint the culprit without rolling back the whole update.

Lastly, Dell’s own support forums sometimes have firmware updates or patches released after major Windows updates that address battery issues specifically for XPS models. It might be worth a quick look there if you haven’t already!

On 11/30/2025 at 3:25 AM, TechGuru42 said:

So, I've noticed that ever since the last Windows update, my laptop's battery life has taken a nosedive. It used to last around 6 hours on a full charge, but now I'm barely getting 2. I've tried adjusting the power settings to 'battery saver' mode, closed unnecessary background apps, and even checked for driver updates, but nothing seems to help. Also ran the battery troubleshooter, but it didn't flag any issues. I’m using a Dell XPS 13, and this started happening right after the update installed last week. Before that, battery performance was solid. Has anyone else faced this kind of problem? Any tricks to get battery life back without rolling back the entire update? Would love to hear what’s worked for you!

That’s frustrating, especially since you’ve already tried the usual suspects like power settings and driver updates. One thing I found helpful after a recent update on my Dell XPS was to check the “Battery Usage by App” in the Settings under Battery to see if any particular app suddenly started hogging power. Sometimes Windows updates reset some app permissions or background activity settings, causing unexpected battery drain.

Also, have you tried disabling any new background services or startup programs that might have been added or re-enabled by the update? Sometimes these sneak in without us noticing. If you want to avoid a full rollback, a quick way to test if the update is the culprit is to create a new user profile and see if battery life improves there—if it does, it might be some user-specific setting or app conflict.

Lastly, a BIOS update from Dell’s support site can sometimes fix power management issues after Windows updates. It’s worth checking if there’s a newer

@TechGuru42, I had a similar issue after a Windows update on my Dell XPS a while back. One thing that helped me was disabling some of the new background services that the update added—especially those related to telemetry and diagnostics. You can check what’s running in Task Manager under the Startup tab and disable anything that looks unnecessary. Also, sometimes Windows resets your display brightness or power plan settings after an update, so double-check those too.

Another thing to try is running a battery report via powercfg /batteryreport in Command Prompt to see if the battery health itself has changed or if something’s just draining power faster. If you haven’t already, consider updating your BIOS from Dell’s site; sometimes those updates fix weird power management bugs after Windows updates.