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Archive for February, 2010

The Proper Way To Recharge Your Batteries

February 22nd, 2010
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If you own a laptop, you’ve no doubt suffered the whims of the Battery Gods at one time or another. You fully charge your battery, depart for a long trip, and as soon as you get on the plane you discover that your battery is nearly empty. What happened? And how can you prevent it from happening again?

The sad truth is that all batteries, no matter how well made and well tended, will eventually die — and over time, they become less and less effective at holding a charge. Various schools of thought have evolved regarding how to prolong the life and effectiveness of a battery. Such as: Keep it fully charged! Or: Let it run down to nothing and then charge it up again! And so on. So who’s right?

A recent article in Slate includes advice from a battery expert who suggests keeping your battery between 20 and 80 percent charged most of the time. Continuing to charge it once it’s full can actually be very stressful on a battery — as can heat.

As to maximizing the amount of use you can get out of your laptop before you need to recharge it, try these measures:

1. Dim your screen. Computer screens use up a surprising amount of power when they’re at maximum brightness.

2. Minimize moving parts. Whirring fans and spinning disk drives can quickly deplete your battery, so keep your computer cool and don’t run DVDs or CDs.

3. Turn off autosave. You should, of course, periodically save whatever you’re working on, but autosave eats up more power than you want to use if you’re running on a battery.

4. Don’t multitask. Keep the number of programs and processes you’re running to a minimum.

5. Don’t use external devices. Any USB-connected device, even if it’s shut off, can still drain battery power, so avoid using mice or flash drives.

In addition, laptops running Windows XP and Vista will have a “Power Options” setting in the control panel that lets you adjust your machine’s power consumption.

Author: Brian T. Categories: Tech Tips Tags: , ,

Five Nice Innovations in the Latest Windows Operating System (OS)

February 8th, 2010
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Windows Vista never quite caught on the way that Microsoft had hoped. The User Account Control (UAC) feature, which was supposed to enhance security by prompting users before allowing many programs to open, instead proved such an Microsoft Windows 7 Logoannoyance that users simply shut it off – leaving them more vulnerable than when they started. The “simplified” User Interface (UI), with its ribbons and tabs, mystified die-hard devotees of the old drop-down menu system. And the System Tray’s myriad of unused applets that acted, as one reviewer put it, “like belligerent squatters,” only added to the frustration (http://www.pcworld.com/article/172602/windows_7_review.html).

The Windows 7 OS, in contrast, has had a much more favorable public reception. Here are a few key changes that have reviewers cheering:

  1. Faster feel. Users find that applications in Windows 7 open more quickly, and they don’t spend as much time waiting for processes to complete.
  2. Libraries. It’s much easier to find documents in Windows 7. The new Libraries function in Windows Explorer lets you create a virtual location that can aggregate content from several locations at once. You can put network folders, SharePoint documents, and regular folders in your Documents Library, giving you quick access even to documents that are tucked away under several organizational layers.
  3. Easy switching between Wi-Fi networks. Just click on the Wi-Fi adapter in your system tray to bring up a menu of available wireless networks, select the one you want to connect to, and you’re done.
  4. User Account Control (UAC) without annoyances. You can now tweak UAC so that it’s actually helpful. Instead of just an on/off, where your choice is to be forever pestered by repetitive prompts or leave yourself open to the perils of the Internet, you can adjust the level of security you want. Two intermediate levels now exist between the “Always notify” and “Never notify” settings.
  5. A simpler System Tray. The big problem with the System Tray in Vista was that software installers could just dump applets in there without your approval. This led to cluttered System Trays and flurries of word balloons every time you accidentally moused over the area. In Windows 7, applets (except for the clock) don’t go directly into the System Tray; they land in a holding pen and have to be dragged to the System Tray. And they can’t float word balloons unless you permit them.

These are just a few of our favorite features in the new Windows 7.  Which ones do you like best?  Any improvements you hope to see in the next release?

Author: Brian T. Categories: Tech News, Tech Tips Tags: , , , ,