Thursday, May 21, 2009

Power-management glitches in XP and Vista

Windows' power management subsystems save both energy and wear and tear on your hardware. But sometimes, things just don't work quite the way they should.

For example, a reader wrote:
"I'm running WinXP Home, fully updated. Recently when I try to modify the Power Option Properties, all I see is this useless dialog. Help!


The fix is surprisingly easy, and that's the topic of the lead item in my WindowsSecrets column this week: What to do when your power management systems malfunction.

Other topics include:
  • Managing Vista's Hibernation/"hybrid sleep" System
  • USB Longevity Tip
  • Curing Netbook Backup Blues
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2 comments:

  1. I'm a long time (paid) reader of the Langa List and now Windows Secrets, so I'll take this opportunity to ask a totally different question: HOW ARE YOU? By that I mean, are you healing ok? Did the medical tests come back? Did you (or "they") ever figure out what made you black out in the first place? And last, and probably also least, how's your car?

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  2. Nice of you to ask, thanks.

    Short form: I'm OK.

    Still having tests done; an MRI this afternoon, in fact, and a "sleep deprived EEG" this weekend; I'll pull an all-nighter and have an EEG done first thing in the AM to see what the fatigue induces.

    I haven't mentioned any of this because I dread the thought of becoming one of those, ahem, older folks who talk incessantly about medical crap. I don't even like to focus on it internally.

    A small upside: Medical technology is still technology, and therefore at least somewhat interesting, if only from a geekish point of view. I asked for and obtained a CD with the images from the CT Scans and MRIs of my head that were done while I was hospitalized. It's a little weird to sit here, looking at MRIs of my brain--- in effect, my brain examining itself. Ooooo, look, that's where the crazy ideas come from! And that's where The Voices live!

    My car was pretty banged up. My insurance company (Amica) paid promptly and in full; it's a good company. But in addition to having a major blot on its mechanical record now (I fought a building, and the building won) the car was approaching the magical 50k mile mark were the book value starts to plummet. Plus, it was larger than I needed, and got poorer mileage that I was comfortable with, just for hauling my sorry ass around. So I traded it in and bought a new, smaller vehicle with about 25% better mileage: A small silver lining to come out of the accident.

    The medical insurance has picked up almost all those costs, so far. The total bill to date, car repairs + medical crap (not counting the cost of the new car), is running around $20K. Crazy.

    I still have no idea what caused my problem, and we're still working on it. But thanks for asking!

    The Voices are now telling me to get back to work...

    ReplyDelete