Over a decade ago, I noted that early beta versions of the taskbar clock showed seconds, and sometimes even blinked the colon like some clocks do, but it was removed because the blinking colon and updating time were ruining Windows 95’s benchmark numbers due to the need to keep all of the code paths related to text rendering in memory, as well as the stack of the thread in the Explorer process that updates the clock.
Even though computers are not under the same tight memory constraints as Windows 95, the taskbar still does not show seconds because Terminal Services would have hundreds of updating clocks, and even on single-user systems, the energy efficiency team gives the side-eye to any timer that runs faster than once per minute.
But finally, in 2023, the Taskbar added an option to show seconds. The option is however disabled by default, and it comes with the warning “(uses more power)”. How much power is it using?
The Taskbar team ran power consumption tests to try to convince the energy efficiency team that even though there was an extra cost, that extra cost was not exorbitant.
A member of the Taskbar team told me that their preliminary measurements showed that Explorer consumed 0.417 mW of energy in its default configuration, but the energy usage went up to 5.42 mW if seconds were enabled on the taskbar. This is over a factor of ten, so that sure seems like a big jump.
I’m having trouble finding information on how much energy a laptop screen consumes. This Web site gives a range of 200 mW to 1100 mW active power consumption for a 16-inch screen at 100 nits. Do I believe these numbers? No. Will I report them anyway? I guess I just did.
If we accept these numbers, then an additional 5 mW doesn’t seem quite so bad overall.¹ It’s an extra 2.5% on the high end, or 0.05% on the low end. That’s a loss of 3 to 15 minutes over a 10-hour period.
¹ The energy efficiency team looks at the system as a whole. I mean, sure, Explorer decreasing battery life by 15 minutes over a 10-hour period might not sound like much, but suppose 10 other components come to the same conclusion. Now you’ve lost over two hours. They also look at the aggregate impact of Windows on the global environment and make recommendations like having Windows Update perform its work when there are more low-carbon energy sources available. You can use the PowerGridForecast class to use this information in your own programs. There’s even sample code.
@Danielix Klimax
Replying like this because I can't reply to the post in question or quote it:
> 1) What kind of memory metric are you using?
Values for all svchost.exe as reported by tasklist memory usage column -- added up in Excel.
> 2) Have you actually calculated amount of energy for those inactive services and keep on mind that there are several different refresh methods. And don’t forget to account for them being possible swapped out already.
Did you read my previous post? I am not the one paid to do that.
> 3) And still your complaint is pretty hilarious in light of...
The energy efficiency team? Is that an april fools joke, or are they on permanent vacation?
On one hand, I get it. “Ha ha, Windows and efficiency?” And be sure to use a dollar sign whenever spelling ‘Microsoft’.
On the other hand, I can’t imagine how one might miss all of the in-your-face energy efficiency UX surface area in Windows 11. I get the sense that’s the visible part of the iceberg.
PowerGridForecast looks really interesting, but I feel like it needs a way to override its data source. (Maybe it has one; I'll admit I haven't looked.)
My local energy provider claims a fairly low emissions rate of .0406 metric tons of CO₂ per MWh, so it probably doesn't make much difference, but I also have a decent amount of solar generating capacity which makes that number somewhat lower for me, especially on sunny days. It'd be nice if Windows had some way to talk to my solar combiner so it could know when I'm actively backfeeding power into the grid, as...
Of course that extra power use matters:
Every mW is sacred,
Every mW is great!
If a mW gets wasted,
Greta gets quite irate.
(Nothing against GT, I just needed a name to use).
I still don't understand why having seconds in the calendar view only was a problem. In Windows 10 you could just click on the date to open the calendar view and it shows seconds there for as long as you need, then when you click away it hides again. That sounds like a very optimal situation for reducing power usage. So why was that removed in Windows 11? And why now are some people getting Windows 10 builds that remove it from Windows 10 as well? This forces people to either turn it on all the time or to keep...
Control Panel still has a built-in clock that updates the seconds in real-time. You can find it via (right-click the taskbar clock; Adjust date and time / Adjust date/time; Add clocks for different time zones / Additional clocks; Date and time tab).
@Bob Loblaw: This is one of the many cases when you don’t need to do the CLSID dance. Easier by just going to Control Panel, then Clock and Region, then context-menu “Date and Time” and choose “Create shortcut”.
(see GL’s solution above)
For anyone interested, there’s a way to create a direct shortcut to the Date and Time control panel page.Search for explorer clsid guid shortcuts and you can find it.
(apparently I’m not allowed to post the actual shortcut here – I added a comment yesterday that never got approved)
Exactly. Forced regression as if Google or Apple people were running Microsoft and humiliating its customers.