Computer Laptop Battery Care and Usage Tips for getting more from a notebook battery.

1. Turn off Wi-Fi and BlueTooth – Most laptops have shortcut keys to instantly disable wireless networking.

2. Don’t play computer games, music or DVD movies – Multimedia activities drain laptop batteries.

3. Disconnect all external device like PC Card modems, Firewire, USB devices and optical drives. Use the notebook touchpad instead of an external mouse.

4. Adjust your screen brightness – Dimming your display saves battery power.

5. Tweak Windows Power Options – Choose a Laptop power scheme that turns off the notebook monitor and hard disk after 10 minutes of inactivity.

6. Decrease or mute the Laptop Speaker Volume.

7. Turn off all scheduled tasks.

8. Turn off Auto-save features in Microsoft Office and other applications.

9. If your PC has a built-in wireless card, turn it off or disable it when not in use.

10. Programs that are run from a CD or DVD can be copied to and run from the hard drive, which typically consumes less power than an optical drive.

Here are some more tips to improve your notebook’s battery life:

1. If you do not use your laptop for extended periods of time (a week or more), remove the battery pack from the laptop.

2. Do not expose the battery to high heat or freezing temperatures. Do not leave your battery in your car in the summer. Hot batteries discharge very quickly, and cold ones can’t create as much power.

3. Make sure to plug your laptop charger adapter into a UPS and not directly into a power outlet or surge protector.

4. If you have a nickel-metal hydride battery, completely drain and recharge the battery once a month to maximize its capacity to hold a charge.

5. Fully charge new battery packs before use. New pack needs to be fully charged and discharged (cycled) a few times before it can condition to full capacity.

6. For laptops that work as Desktop Replacement, the battery should be re-installed every 3-4 weeks and allowed to fully discharge.

7. Leaving a battery in a laptop while using an electrical outlet for long periods of time will keep the battery in a constant state of charging up and that will reduce the life cycle of the battery.

Battery-saving sleep modes: Should I use Stand By or Hibernate

Standby mode
Use standby to save power when you will be away from the computer for a short time while working – your monitor and hard disks turn off, all applications and open files are stored in RAM. When you want to use the computer again, it comes out of standby quickly, and your desktop is restored exactly as you left it.

Hibernation Mode
Use hibernation to save power when you will be away from the computer for an extended time while working – your computer shuts down to save power but first saves everything in memory on your hard disk. When you restart the computer, your desktop is restored exactly as you left it.

When you choose Start, Turn off Computer in Windows XP, your options are Stand By, Turn Off, and Restart. To hibernate, place the cursor over Stand By, then hold down Shift and click.