Hard Disk

This category contains the Turn Off Hard Disk After setting. The hard disk is one of the most power-hungry components of a computer, so turning off the hard disk saves a worthwhile amount of energy. After the hard disk has spun down, it will take a few seconds to spin back up when you start using the computer again.

Wireless Adapter Settings

This category contains the Power Saving Mode setting for your computer’s wireless adapter. You can choose Maximum Performance, Low Power Saving, Medium Power Saving, or Maximum Power Saving. Many laptop computers allow you to switch off the wireless adapter altogether via either a hardware switch or a custom keyboard combination.

Sleep

This category contains three settings:

Sleep After Specify the number of minutes to wait before putting the computer to sleep. Normally, you’d set this setting by using the Put the Computer to Sleep drop-down list in the Edit Plan Settings window.

Allow Hybrid Sleep Choose On or Off to control whether Windows uses hybrid sleep, a mode that saves power while enabling you to resume your work almost immediately.

Hibernate After Specify the number of minutes of inactivity that Windows should allow before it puts the computer into hibernation. Choose Never if you want to prevent hibernation.

Power Buttons and Lid

This category contains the following settings:

Lid Close Action For a laptop, choose the action that Windows should take when you close the lid: Do Nothing, Sleep, Hibernate, or Shut Down. Normally, you’d set this setting in the System Settings window.

Power Button Action Choose the action that Windows should take when you press the power button: Do Nothing, Sleep, Hibernate, or Shut Down. Normally, you’d set this setting in the System Settings window.

Sleep Button Action Choose the action that Windows should take when you press the Sleep button: Do Nothing, Sleep, or Hibernate. Normally, you’d set this setting in the System Settings window.

Start Menu Power Button Choose the action that Windows should take when you click the Power button on the Start menu: Do Nothing, Sleep, or Hibernate.

PCI Express

This category contains the Link State Power Management setting, which lets you choose the Active State Power Management policy to use: Off, Moderate Power Savings, or Maximum Power Savings.

Search and Indexing

This category contains the Power Savings Mode setting, which lets you choose which power plan to use for search and indexing: Power Saver, Balanced, or High Performance.

Display

This category contains the following options:

Turn Display Off After Specify how many minutes of inactivity Windows should allow before it turns off the display. Normally, you’ll choose this setting in the Edit Plan Settings window.

Adaptive Display Choose On or Off to specify whether Windows should increase the Turn Display Off After setting automatically if you keep turning it back on when it goes off. This setting is often helpful for getting the right display-off delay on laptops.

Display Brightness For a laptop, choose the brightness to use when running on battery and when plugged in. Normally, you’ll choose this setting in the Edit Plan Settings window.

Multimedia Settings

This category contains the When Sharing Media setting, which lets you specify what Windows should do if your computer is sharing media for example, songs with other computers. If your computer goes to sleep, the other computers will no longer be able to access the media. Choose Allow the Computer to Sleep, Prevent Idling to Sleep, or Allow the Computer to Enter Away Mode, as needed. Away mode is a kind of somnolence in which the computer appears to be asleep but can still take actions such as recording TV shows or sharing media with other computers.

Battery

This category contains settings for managing low and critical battery levels, alarms, and actions. Article 14 discusses these settings in more detail as batteries are mostly used in portable computers.

The Bottom Line Find out what hardware you can use with Windows Windows works with a wide variety of hardware provided that you can find a suitable driver for each device. You can use the Windows Vista Upgrade Adviser page on the Microsoft website to find out whether a particular device is compatible with Windows Vista.

Install, connect, and disconnect hot-pluggable devices Hot-pluggable devices are ones that you can plug in or unplug while Windows is running. Hot-pluggable devices use USB, FireWire, and PC Card connections. Windows automatically loads and unloads drivers for hot-pluggable devices as needed. You must be an Administrator or provide an Administrator password to install a hot-pluggable device. After that, any user can plug in or unplug a hot-pluggable device.

Install devices that are not hot pluggable To install a device that isn’t hot pluggable, turn off your computer and disconnect the power. Open the case, install and secure the device, and then close the case again. When you restart your computer after installing the device, Windows normally detects the device during startup. If Windows can find a driver for the device, it loads the driver automatically and configures the device. If Windows can’t find a driver, it launches the Found New Hardware Wizard, which lets you tell Windows where to find the driver. If Windows doesn’t detect the device, you can run the Add Hardware Wizard to install the device manually.

Update, roll back, disable, and uninstall drivers To work with drivers, press Windows Key+Break,click the Device Manager link in the System window, and then authenticate your- self to User Account Control. Right-click the device whose driver you want to change, and then choose Properties from the context menu. Use the buttons on the Driver page of the device’s Properties dialog box to update, roll back, disable, or uninstall a driver.

Configure power management to improve battery life or reduce consumption To improve battery life on a laptop computer or to reduce power consumption on a desktop, you can configure power options such as turning off the display or putting the computer to sleep after a specified period of inactivity. To work with these options, choose Start Control Panel, click the Hardware and Sound link, and then click the Power Options link. In the Power Options window, choose a power plan, and then click the Change Plan Settings link to customize its settings. Use the links in the left column of the Power Options window to access the main power configuration options.