Windows 11 battery drain after recent updates

You are seeing shorter battery life after recent Windows 11 updates and want settings that help without guessing the cause. Start in Settings, System, Power & battery, Battery usage and compare usage by app; unusually high background activity often identifies the drain. Apply Energy recommendations, enable Energy saver at a suitable threshold, choose an efficient power mode, and reduce display brightness or refresh rate while testing. Restart once to finish pending update work, then install current Windows, firmware, chipset, and graphics updates. Generate a battery report with powercfg /batteryreport from an elevated terminal and compare full-charge capacity with design capacity; a large gap indicates battery wear rather than an update regression. If drain began with one update and continues, record its KB number, Windows build, and affected process, then report it through Feedback Hub. Avoid removing security updates unless Microsoft documents a known issue or support recommends it.