Microsoft has announced it will suspend Windows 8 apps that are not visible onscreen its Metro user interface to boost battery life.

1. February 14, 2012
batteryfast.co.uk
Microsoft Suspends Background Windows
8 Apps to Increase Batteries Life
Microsoft Suspends Background Windows applications that are not visible on screen not use
8 Apps to Increase Batteries Life any battery power.
CloudTags: Microsoft , Windows 8 , Apps , Battery According to Microsoft, Windows 8 will bring im-
Life , Asus A2 Batteries , Asus A2000 Battery life , A22- provements to background code execution, which
p701 Battery Microsoft claims will minimise impact on battery
life while maintaining multitasking. Microsoft has
created new application programming interfaces
for background processing, which the firm claims
http://www.batteryfast.co.uk/battery-technology/microsoft-suspends-background-windows-8-apps-to-increase-batteries-life/
will be able to provide the multi-tasking abilities
that users expect but minimise battery drain.
Based on the company’s statement, Windows 8 is
set to enhance code execution of background ap-
plications, which allegedly will reduce the rate of
power consumption while keeping the multitasking
function in hand.
“Minimizing the power consumption of your PC
while maximizing the responsiveness and utility
Microsoft has announced it will suspend Windows (making it “fast and fluid”), is a significant enginee-
8 apps that are not visible onscreen its Metro user ring challenge,” said Sharif Farag and Ben Srour,
interface to boost battery life. Lead Program Managers on the Fundamentals and
User Experience teams of Microsoft, respectively.
The Redmond-based company’s upcoming Windows
8 OS will have to build upon a power efficient system, “While it starts with the work we do in Windows to
especially when most developers and manufactu- provide support for the right level resource usage,
rers plan to place the operating system on tablets. this work requires developers to take resource uti-
lization into account as they develop their apps.”
With that in mind, Microsoft intends to create Win-
dows 8 apps that do not dissipate the juice out of the Microsoft built a new set of APIs (application pro-
battery if these are only running in the background. gramming interfaces) dedicated to background
processes that will give multitasking abilities for
Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8 operating system users to minimize power consumption.
will need to work on providing good battery life, as
many system builders intend to put the heavyweight Both managers said that the company’s aim is to
operating system on tablets. To help matters, Micro- get the processor into much lower power states for
soft claimed its goal is to make Windows 8 Metro
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2. February 14, 2012
batteryfast.co.uk
Microsoft Suspends Background Windows 8 Apps to Increase Batteries Life
most of the time, which means suspended apps will Related Articles:
stack away in cache.
“Power efficiency applies to all form factors and all
usage scenarios—using less power is the right thing Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment
to do for everyone. This is an area of significant below and continue the conversation, or subscribe
innovation for Windows 8 PCs, and builds on the to my feed and get articles like this delivered auto-
foundation of the new runtime model in WinRT—it matically to your feed reader.
is not the sort of thing you can retrofit onto existing
desktop applications while still maintaining func-
tionality and compatibility,” they added.
According to Microsoft, the switch for a suspended
app happens automatically such that it saves the
http://www.batteryfast.co.uk/battery-technology/microsoft-suspends-background-windows-8-apps-to-increase-batteries-life/
last state for the next use.
However, not all applications will go to the main me-
mory’s cache because of storage space limitations,
so the memory manager of Windows 8 will have to
choose on sticking seldom-used applications back to
the disk, which is likely to be a solid-state disk (SSD)
instead of a conventional hard drive for tablets.
Farag and Srour said, “To this end, we have added a
new component to Windows 8 called the “Desktop
Activity Moderator,” which only runs on these new
connected standby-capable platforms. This compo-
nent is designed to help reduce the resource utili-
zation of desktop apps when the device goes into
connected standby. If we allowed apps to continue
running unchecked in this low-power mode, the PC
would run down the battery more quickly. Instead,
we suspend desktop applications, stopping their re-
source use and maximizing battery life. From the
applications’ perspective, it will appear as if the PC
has simply been put to sleep. When the PC is woken
from connected standby, the app will resume as if
the PC had been woken from a sleep state.”
To maximize the Windows 8 potential, Microsoft
needs to find the right tablet makers who can un-
leash the full potential of its upcoming OS in order
to rival the Apple iPad and Android tablets.
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