Windows 2000 Administration in a Nutshell

Name

Power Options

Synopsis

Configures energy-saving features for your computer.

To Launch

• Start → Settings → Control Panel → Power Options

• Command interpreter → control powercfg.cpl

Description

Power Options opens a property sheet with four tabs. The key settings are:

Power Schemes

Selects between the default power schemes shown in Table 6.2. To create a custom scheme, modify an existing scheme and save it under a different name. Note that only a subset of these options may be configurable if you have an older computer whose BIOS is not compliant with the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) standard.

Advanced

Displays an icon in the system tray. This is handy and can be used to switch quickly between a power scheme or to open Power Options for further configuration.

If your BIOS is ACPI-compliant, you can also configure your computer to prompt you for your password when it returns from standby or hibernation mode (see hibernation and standby). Finally, you can configure the power button on your box to do any of the following: switch to standby mode, switch to hibernate mode, or power off the machine.

Hibernate

Enables support for hibernation. This tab is only present on machines with an ACPI-compliant BIOS.

UPS

Displays the status of and configures an uninterruptible power supply unit (if present).

Table 6-2. Default Power Schemes

Scheme	Turn off Monitor	Turn off Hard Disks	System Standby	System Hibernates
Home/Office Desk	20 min	Never	Never	Never
Portable/Laptop