How to Disable Efficiency Mode in Task Manager?

The Efficiency Mode Issue is a common Windows issue that many people are encountering when trying to use 3rd party browsers like Chrome or Opera. When this issue appears, the browsers run very slowly in low frames, making the experience less than ideal. Users affected by this issue have noticed that a logo appears next to the browser’s process inside Task Manager indicating that the Efficiency Mode is active when this problem occurs.

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:

1. Inside your Chrome browser, click on the three dots icon in the top right corner and access Settings.

   

2. Select the Performance tab on the left side.
3. Now you will able to see both options. Click on the toggle next to Memory Saver, then do the same thing with the toggle next to Energy Saver. Ensure that both the toggles are grey, which means disabled.

   

4. Once you do this, test to see if the Efficiency Mode affects the performance the same as before.

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:

1. Open the browser you want and click on the three dots in the top right corner, then highlight Extensions and click on the Manage Extensions button.

   

2. Now you need to locate the McAfee WebAdvisor extension.
3. When you see it, click the toggle next to it to disable it.

   

4. Restart your browser and test it to see if the Efficiency Mode issue has been fixed.

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:

1. Open a Run dialog box by pressing the Windows key + R and type inside the search bar ‘ms-settings:‘, then press Enter to open the Windows Settings.

   

2. Scroll down on the left-side menu until you see Windows Update. Click on it when you find it.

   

3. Now click on the Pause for 1-week button temporarily and access the Update history tab.
4. Scroll down and select the Uninstall updates button.

   

5. You will able to see the latest updates installed. Click Uninstall to the latest one and test to see if the Efficiency Mode issue will be fixed.

   

6. If the problem still appears, we recommend you reinstall the updates to not encounter other issues.

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:

1. Press the Windows key + R to open a Run dialog box and type inside the search bar ‘ms-settings:‘, then press Enter to open the Windows Settings.

   

2. From the System section, select the Display button and look for the Brightness & color section.
3. Now you need to disable the Help improve battery by optimizing the content shown and brightness option.

   

   Note: If you don’t see this option, your device doesn’t have an ambient light sensor.

4. Once you’ve done it, test your browser to see if the Efficiency Mode issue still occurs.

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:

1. You need to open the Task Manager. The quickest way to do this is to simultaneously press the CTRL + Shift + ESC keys.
2. Now you need to locate the browser process. Expand all the processes if there are more by clicking on the arrow.

   

3. Now right-click on the process that has the leaf icon and click on Efficiency Mode to disable the option.

   

4. Repeat the process for every process that has the Efficiency Mode turned on.
5. After you’ve done that, test your browser to see if the problem has been fixed.

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:

1. Open Firefox and use the search bar to insert the following address:

   about:config

2. After you enter the address, a caution will appear on your screen. Click on Accept the Risk and Continue.

   

3. Now in the Search preference name bar, you need to insert the following code:

   dom.ipc.processPriorityManager.backgroundUsesEcoQoS 

4. The option will appear on your screen. Click on the Toggle from the right side to disable the option. Set it to false to turn it off.

   

5. Restart Firefox and see if the Efficiency Mode still appears on Task Manager.

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:

1. Right-click on the Google Chrome app and click on Properties.

   

2. Inside the Properties, go to the Compatibility section.
3. Under Compatibility mode, you should see the Run this program in compatibility mode for button. Click on the box next to it to enable it.
4. Extend the drop-down menu and select Windows 8.

   

5. Once you are done, click on Apply to save the changes and click on OK to close the Properties of Chrome.
6. Test your browser to see if the Efficiency Mode issue has been finally fixed.