Windows gives you rudimentary control over your desktop or
laptop's power settings; its power options properties dialog
leaves much to be desired, as it doesn't give you the level of
power calibration tweaks one would expect from a dedicated 3rd
party power management utility. But, for being a stock utility,
it's better than having nothing at all. Right-clicking anywhere
on your desktop and selecting Properties will pop up the
Display Properties dialog box; from here, navigate to the
Screen Saver tab and push the Power button at the bottom to
display the Power Options Properties window.
Four tabs labeled Power Schemes, Advanced, Hibernate and UPS
allow you to control your computer's power consumption. The
first tab, Power Schemes, allows you to make a scheme
appropriate for your PC; for example, your home PC will
probably have a different power scheme than your work PC. When
you're away from your computer or it's idle, it makes logical
sense to tell it to consume less electricity, which in turn can
lower your power bill if this method is used enough. Telling
Windows to automatically power down your monitor after 20
minutes of inactivity and turning off your hard disks when idle
can accomplish this. If you've a laptop, setting these power
saving tasks can cut down on your lappy's battery drainage
time.
Edison Saves on Power
The default Power Options Properties utility that comes
out-of-the-box with Windows is fine for most users' needs, but
if you desire more control over your power settings and want
more information pertaining to the amount of power you're
actually saving, you'll need to enlist the services of a 3rd
party utility. Such a power saving utility is aptly named
Edison. Edison when installed, you'll quickly notice that Edison
replaces the default Power Options you're probably used to. The
GUI is colorful and easy on the eyes and, being very intuitive
from the get-go, a snap to use.
Power Split Your Day
The beauty of Edison is that it lets you split your day up into
different power setting schemes, as the developers understand
that users' computers use varying amounts of power depending on
what they're using their PCs for. For example, you can split
your computing day into Work Time or Home Time, with your power
settings being less stringent and the other being more active,
respectively.
When you're at work, you probably don't want your hard disks
spinning down completely every time you're away from your work
desk, but when you're at home, you'd want your display to
snooze when you're in bed. Edison gives you even more
fine-grained control by letting you further split your days up
into hours, so if you normally work later on the weekends, you
can adjust Edison's power settings accordingly.
How Much Are You Saving?
Want to see how much dough you're saving (environmentally and
money-wise) by using Edison's power saving features? It's easy
to do with this utility. The sliders located on the interface
allow you to reckon just how much you'll save when
experimenting with a variety of scenarios. For example, suppose
you'd like to see how much you'll save if you set your hard
drives to turn off after 10 minutes and for your PC to suspend
itself after 30 minutes; adjust the sliders accordingly, and
Edison will do the calculation for you, displaying how much
money you'll save; it's a really cool feature. If you're tired
of the vanilla Power Options settings Windows provides, give
Edison a shot. It's easy to use, but you must register if
before you can actually use it.
