About the Sleep Power State View Your Power Plan Adjust Your Power Plan

1. Note Shut down your mobile computer only when you must turn off the power (for example, when you want to add memory or when you don’t plan to use the computer for several days). About Power Management in Windows Vista With Windows Vista™, you can use power plans to reduce your power consumption. Power plans control the hardware and system settings that manage how your computer uses power, so that you can balance the tradeoff between battery life and system performance. Topics in this guide: View Your Power Plan To view your current power plan, click the Start button , click Control Panel, click System and Maintenance, and then click Power Options. • About the Sleep Power State • View Your Power Plan • Adjust Your Power Plan By default, Windows Vista configures your computer on the Balanced power plan, which achieves the best compromise between power consumption and performance. About the Sleep Power State Sleep is a new power state in Windows Vista. When you are not using your computer, put it to Sleep instead of shutting it down. Your computer will use less power and it will always be ready for you to use or to resume your work, no matter where you stopped. Putting your computer to Sleep offers several advantages over shutting it down: • All of your work, including information about the programs you were using, such as window location and size, is automatically saved to your hard disk (as with the Hibernate power state from Windows XP). • When your mobile PC wakes, Windows Vista restores your previous work session within seconds. You don't need to restart and re-open the files you were working on (as with the Standby state from Windows XP). • While sleeping, a desktop computer uses approximately one-tenth the power it uses when running at full power, and a mobile computer typically uses one to two percent of battery power per hour. To further limit the use of battery power, Windows Vista automatically turns off the computer after a period of time based on the Sleep and Hibernation settings of the power plan you're using.

2. Adjust Your Power Plan Customize settings in any of the three default power plans—balanced, power saver, and high performance. 1 Click the Start button , click Control Panel, click System and Maintenance, and then click Power Options. On the Select a power plan page, click Change plan settings under the plan that you want to change. On the Change settings for the plan page, choose the display and sleep settings you want to use when your computer is running on battery and when it's plugged in. Click Save changes. 2 3 4 The changes made to your power plan take effect immediately. Note To make specific changes to the settings controlled by the power plan, such as when the low battery alarm will notify you, on the Change settings for the plan page, click Change advanced power settings.