 |
| |
| Learning Series | Buy This Issue Table of Contents For This Issue  E-mail
This To A Friend |
|
| |
| 101 PC How Tos | |
| April 2000• Vol.6 Issue 4 | |
How To...Use Power Management |
Jump to first occurrence of:
[POWER]
[MANAGEMENT]
[RICH]
[GRAY]
 What You Need To Know
Benefits Power management lets portable computer users save valuable battery power; all computer users save money and wear and tear on their machines Time Five to 10 minutes. Skill Level Easy It’s a familiar situation: you’re on the beach with your laptop, tweaking a rush project and fighting the urge to see how many times laptops “skip” across the water, when the screen dims and warns you the battery is low. One of the problems with laptops is that they only run for so long in the wild before you have to hunt up a power source to rejuvenate them. Windows’ Power Management features are designed to help. While you can also use Power Management to control how the system, monitor, and diskettes on your PC behave during idle time, these features were designed with portables in mind. Notebook manufacturers have incorporated features to stretch your battery power, and with Windows NT, you’re reliant on other solutions (see the paragraph on Windows NT at the end of this article). Check your computer documentation to see if features, such as the ability to set your CPU to run at different speeds for battery and power use, are included. For Windows Power Management, the place to start is with the Power Management Properties dialog box. Click the Start button, select Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click Power Management. The dialog box is simple to use and is split into two tabbed sections: Power Schemes and Advanced. The Power Schemes. Power schemes let you choose and group preset power options into different schemes, so you can quickly reset Power Management options for different computing situations. The Power Schemes box holds the power schemes set up for your computer and could have any number of schemes, including Home/Office Desk, Portable/Lap Top, Personal Server, and Always On. (NOTE: The options of the dialog box vary depending on your hardware, computer, and other factors.) Take a few moments to select various schemes in the Power Scheme box. You’ll note that as you switch between schemes, the boxes below in the Settings For Home/Office Desk Power Scheme (or Settings For Portable/Laptop, etc.) section change accordingly. Each power scheme lets you set times for System Standby, Turn Off Monitor, and Turn Off Hard Disks. As the computer sits idle, the natural progression is to have your system slip into standby first (possibly after 30 minutes of inactivity), then have your monitor power down (after 45 minutes), followed by the hard disks (after one hour). This progression saves the most power, while still letting you re-achieve full computer functioning quickly. Notebooks have a more compressed power management scheme, where everything shuts down more quickly to conserve battery power. If you have your own special needs, create your own scheme. Change all of the settings boxes to create a scheme that works for you, click the Save As button, and select a name when prompted. Advanced. The Advanced tab is another area where your individual computer influences what options are available. If you’re missing any of the following, don’t sweat it. These options let you refine a selected power scheme: The Ability To Show A Power Meter On The Taskbar. This gives you an icon that shows whether your computer is running on AC or battery (for laptops). Click the icon to modify your settings. Prompt For Password When Computer Goes Off Standby. Check this box and you’ll be prompted for your Windows password when you wake up the computer. Turn On Computer To Receive Phone Calls Over The Modem. Engaging this option wakes the computer to receive incoming calls. You’ll also be able to change settings for what happens when you press the power button on your computer (sleep, shut down, etc.).  Windows NT.
Don’t try to find the Power Management Properties dialog box on your WinNT machine; it doesn’t exist. You cannot make Power Management adjustments to your system. In the past, portable computer users were forced to use Win9x if they wanted power management options, but you can now get such features through specially equipped computers and/or software from companies such as Phoenix Technologies (http://www.phoenix.com/), Softex Inc. (http://www.softexinc.com/), SystemSoft Corp. (http://www.systemsoft.com/)  by Rich Gray
|
Copyright & Legal Information Privacy Policy