Top 10 Prevent Battery Drain in Vista

[Leon]

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It appears that the list of features that Microsoft Vista offers doesn't include all positives. Some of the Vista features can cause your battery to drain faster and that is always a major inconvenience for remote workers. Rather than panic if your laptop battery has drained while on the road, take some steps before you go on the road to prepare your laptop so that you don't have to experience any laptop drain problems as a result of using Vista on your laptop.

1. Set Display to Lower Brightness

Display brightness is deemed to be the major culprit for battery drain more than any other factor. Your laptop may have controls on the keyboard (quite often a Function key and FN key combination) to quickly adjust the display brightness. This is your best bet to adjust the brightness level so that you can change it when connected to a power source without going through a lot of steps.


2. Turn Off Wi-Fi

Not only is it safer to keep your Wi-Fi turned off but it helps keep your battery power from draining. Use the software settings and hardware control (if applicable) to shut off your Wi-Fi. Having to always ensure that you have access to external power when using Wi-Fi could be a pain, as any other Vista laptop owner will be searching for the same thing.


3. Turn Sound Off

Okay the sounds effects in programs are kind of cool, especially when you've spent time personalizing them but really you don't need them if you are working with battery power only and in a public location.


4. Put Your Laptop into Automatic Hibernation

If you happen to be away from your laptop for a period of time and want to ensure that you are conserving battery power and keeping your documents safe, then using manual hibernate is a good solution.


5. Disable Aero Glass Feature

The Aero Glass feature is cool and for most it's the one feature of Vista that differentiates it from previous versions but any method that helps prevent battery drain is a wise idea. To disable:

    * Right-click on desktop and click on Personalize
    * click View Color and Appearance
    * Open Classic Appearance
    * Select Windows Basic graphical interface from pop-up menu
    * Click OK


6. Use Laptop Manufacturer's Power Management Program

The majority of laptops will include their own power management program and from the reports they appear to be more effective at preventing battery drain. Each company may use different programs for this function so read your User Guide and also check the manufacturer's web site for additional information.


7. Use External Power

Whenever you have access to an external power source, keep your laptop plugged in. This way you won't be draining your battery needlessly and you keep your battery charged.

NOTE: Another option with this is to purchase an extra modular bay battery to have handy.


8. Avoid Running Multiple Applications

This option is last as most of us have spent big bucks getting fast processors, upgrading RAM and hard drive capacities so that we can run multiple programs. This makes it much easier to stay productive but when there are times that you don't really need to have multiple programs open, then shut down the ones not in use. This includes your e-mail program. Set a schedule for checking e-mail and only access the program at those times.


9. Other Ways to Extend Your Laptop Battery

Making sure your laptop is ready to run at all times and in any location is important for mobile office professionals. Help protect and extend your laptop's battery life with these simple steps.


10. Laptop Battery Basics

Take care of your laptop battery and ensure that it will be ready to work properly when you need it most. Some general tips for laptop care include: avoid extreme temperatures, don’t leave a laptop outside in cold weather or leave it in a hot car. Cold batteries can’t create very much power and hot batteries will discharge very quickly. Use electrical power when available to keep battery charged. Don’t let your laptop go for long periods of time without using the battery.

[King]

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[bakr124]

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