Let me put this in perspective for you – I had less than 4 hours to research a topic for my next article (from scratch), think of the angle which should be presented to you (the readers), write the article, proofread it and submit it – all within the four-hour time frame. I’m not saying that it’s impossible but really, quite close to the limit.

Since then, I got myself a UMTS device and luckily from a provider which offers unlimited usage for a fixed monthly fee. I know for a fact that a lot of other providers out there charge by the megabyte. Those of you with such a tariff and are looking for a way to reduce your internet usage, read on.

Both of these issues (battery life and restricted internet usage) can be addressed with one simple application – BashFlash. You see, flash is a major pain in the ass. It appears in ads as animations and online video players. And it does two things very well; firstly, it takes up a lot of your internet usage because of those damned flash videos that masquerade as advertisements which automatically load whether you want them to or not; and secondly, when flash videos play, it uses a whole lot of CPU power, heating it up, and draining the battery because the fan has to run and cool it back down again.

Here’s where BashFlash comes in. It’s a menubar app that detects the activity of the Flash plugin. Whenever Flash takes up a significant amount of processing power, BashFlash’s menubar icon will turn from grey to red, allowing you to kill the Flash plugin.

Now, before you download BashFlash, know this: you need to be running an Intel Mac on Snow Leopard at 64-bit. Don’t know if you’re running at 32- or 64-bit? Check this page out, basically you need to have at least an Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Also, you need to use Safari in order for BashFlash to work. Firefox and other browsers doesn’t run Flash as a separate plugin so BashFlash can’t kill the process.

If you happily fulfill both requirements, then let’s see what BashFlash can do for you. After installing it, BashFlash places its icon on the menubar. If there is no Flash content running in Safari, the icon will appear grey. Once a flash-enabled ad or video loads, the icon will turn red and subsequently allows you to kill the Flash process.

And look what happens immediately. The plugin is temporarily disabled and the video stops playing, CPU usage goes back to normal, internet usage normalizes, and battery is saved. All is well.

Reload the page and everything starts up again, including the Flash plugin. Nothing is permanently disabled so you get to choose exactly when and how to deploy the Flash killer.

Again, BashFlash will only work with Safari and Intel Macs running on Snow Leopard at 64-bit. Do you get annoyed with flash ads that suddenly spike up your laptop’s core temperature and start spinning the fan unnecessarily? What do you do about it?

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• Two Replacements For The Windows Laptop Battery Meter (14)

MakeUseOf had an article 20 Ways To Increase Laptop’s Battery Life which mentioned a number of useful tips. This time we introduce to a rather different app called BatteryCare which can help you understand the ways of battery guruness….is that a word? Probably not but hey it sounds good!

Way back when, it was very bad to leave your laptop plugged in and charging after the battery was charged. Nowadays this is not the case because the computer switches to a trickle charging mode when the battery hits 100%. BatteryCare not only gives you a glimpse at a glance of your available power including the time you have left it also does some neat tricks that can help you extend your laptop battery life.

After downloading and installing this small application you will have a new system tray icon. Mine is all the way to the left. It tells me that my battery is 95% charged and can operate for 2 hours and 36 minutes at the current rate. This is a HUGE improvement over the normal battery meter you see in the middle of my system tray.

The first trick it can do is change your power settings to a different profile depending on if you are plugged into power or not. These profiles can turn down your screen’s brightness or turn off Bluetooth.

To setup a power profile you can visit your Power Options in your Windows control panel. Once you have them set up or you decide to use the built in ones, click on the BatteryCare icon and open the application. You will see the screen below.

Next up, hit the options button and then Power Plans. Simply check the box that says Automatically select Power Plans. Then choose the plans you want to switch to when you are on battery or AC power. When you are done click accept -  yes, it is that easy!

While we are in the options let’s see what other choices we have.  Under advanced options you can be notified when a Full Discharge is necessary to improve the performance of your battyer and extend the laptop battery life. The program tells this by noting how many discharges your machine has had since it started running. You can manually adjust this number if you are not running this against a new battery, do this by setting the Discharge cycles count manual adjustment number at the bottom. I set mine to three. When you reach your set number you will be prompted to fully discharge your battery.

By clicking on the detailed information tab you can see the battery manufacturer as well as designed capacity and total capacity, this can tell you if your battery has degraded. Thankfully mine is fine.

Even after leaving the app running for several hours some of my numbers were at zero but for the sheer power of changing profiles on the fly and the detailed battery meter this app is AWESOME!  Thanks guys keep up the great work. Their website also has some awesome information on debunking the battery myths.

We’ve also discussed two alternatives to the Windows laptop battery meter which is something else you can consider.

Do you use something similar? Let us know about it in the comments.

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• Two Replacements For The Windows Laptop Battery Meter (14)
• How To Analyse & Reduce Your Computer’s Power Consumption [Linux] (5)
• 20 Ways To Increase Laptop’s Battery Life (82)
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If you use Linux, there is an excellent tool that gives you loads of information about your computer’s power consumption as well as the software that is causing your battery to drain. Its called PowerTop.

PowerTop was originally developed by Intel and it lets you measure and explain your computer’s power consumption.

Installation

As always, check your distribution’s package manager for a package named ‘powertop’. If you cannot find it listed there, head over to the PowerTop website and download the tar ball which you can compile and run.

Be sure to run PowerTop with root privileges. It takes about 5 seconds to collect data and it then presents its findings for your consideration. The output can be overwhelming for the uninitiated so lets go through it briefly:

The first part represents the C-States. C-States are the operating modes of the CPU and are usually represented in the form of “Cx” where x is a number. The higher this number, the less power will be used by the CPU in that state. So in this first part you will see the amount of time the CPU has been in each of these states.

P-states shows the frequency the processor is currently running on. In its idle state it will be running at the lowest supported frequency.

The next part represents “Wakeups per second” and means how many times the CPU has been woken from an idle state. Of course, the smaller the value of this number, the better your computer is performing in terms of power consumption.

The next part shows the battery information if you are using a laptop or no information if you are on a desktop.

Then it lists the top reasons for wakeups. This is the most interesting part as it shows which of the software is causing the CPU to wake from an idle state and thus consume power. The PowerTop website also offers patches for many software which are reported to be reasons for unnecessary power consumption.

Lastly the program lists some suggestions you can follow to decrease the power consumption of your computer.

So once you have the output and you’ve read it, what should you then do about it? Well a couple of straight forward steps that you can follow:

• Look for the top causes for wakeups and see if you can disable some of them. It may be bluetooth or wi-fi when you don’t need them or something else. If you don’t need them then disable them.
• Check out the most common known reasons for wakeup and how to tackle them.
• Look for software patches on the PowerTop website and apply them (make sure to check versions, as some of them may be outdated). They tend to take care of bugs (or provide workarounds) to code that causes the CPU to wake up constantly.
• Follow the suggestions PowerTop has to offer. You might want to Google the message it gives you if it seems to be a bit too geeky for you. Chances are you will find a step by step guide to achieve the same.
• Read Saikat’s article on conserving battery power. Although not directly related to the analysis method which we just followed, he provides some pretty nifty tips in general that you must check out.

PowerTop not only monitors the power consumption but also provides you with detailed information on how you can minimize the consumption. An indispensable tool for laptop users especially. After tweaking for some days I really got the battery power back up and I am still not convinced I have the perfect setup (working on it).

How do you minimize your laptop’s power consumption? Turning off Wi-Fi or turning down the screen brightness or something else? We would really like to hear about them in the comments.

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• Two Replacements For The Windows Laptop Battery Meter (14)
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Over the course of a few months, the life slowly dwindles down more and more until you reach the end. Typically at the end of the warranty, one year, you’re forced to fork out another $100, purchase another battery, and go through the whole process again.

Along with the lack of life of your battery, you get the bonus of the boring and useless Windows battery meter that has been included with Windows. It would be nice to maybe have some additional information, or a more accurate calculation of your remaining battery life.

So again, with every Windows application, there is almost always an alternative and I have come up with a couple Windows laptop battery meter replacements to change the included battery icon.

BatteryBar

BatteryBar is a simple laptop battery meter that resides in your task bar and is constantly monitoring the battery in your laptop. It not only gives you the estimated remaining time, but it is continually tracking historical data, and is able to calculate the amount of wear you are putting on it. The free version includes everything you need, but there is also a Pro version, which adds certain alerts and additional modifications.

Power Meter Plus

If you’d prefer not to eat up any additional real estate on your taskbar, Power Meter Plus might be the other replacement that you’d lean towards. This application sits displayed on your screen, only when your laptop is running off of battery power.

With full power, the power meter sits completely invisible and as the life decreases, the meter becomes more and more prominent. The meter should never get in the way of your work because as you hover your mouse over it, it moves to the left, right, bottom or top of your screen.

When you plug the laptop back in, a message streaks across your screen to let you know that you are running off of A/C again.

If you’re happy with the provided Windows battery meter, then I would bet that you are in the minority because although it does get the job done, it makes it difficult to know exactly when you are about to ‘die’. You usually end up with the inevitable ‘Going to Stand By…’ message.

Try each of these out as a replacement, and I highly doubt you’ll be disappointed. Neither of them eat up a lot of resources and are just another couple more great Windows replacements, in the long line of this category.

Know of any other Windows battery monitoring apps? How accurate do you think these are?

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• How To Analyse & Reduce Your Computer’s Power Consumption [Linux] (5)
• Extend Your Laptop Battery Life With BatteryCare (Windows) (9)
• 20 Ways To Increase Laptop’s Battery Life (82)
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Modern graphic intensive operating systems and resource hungry applications are cutting down the life of your laptop’s battery every day. The average battery life per continuous use still stands at a maximum of three to four hours. So, a fast depleting battery could very swiftly put the crutches on your ‘mobile’ road trip.

Falling just short of carrying an extra pack of batteries in the back-pack, are several ways to keep the juice flowing through the batteries.

1. Ship shape with a defrag

Regular defragmentation helps to arrange data more efficiently thus making the hard drive work less to access the data. The quicker the moving hard drive works lesser is the load placed on the battery. Thus, your batter can last longer. The effect is minimal, but this efficiency goes hand in glove with hard drive maintenance.

2. Kill the resource gobblers

End the background processes that are not vital. Monitor the resource usage through a ‘Ctrl-Alt-Del’ which brings up the Windows Task Manager (in Windows). If you’re not on the internet, it is safe to shut down the immediate non-essential programs running in the taskbar like the antivirus and the firewall. Weed out unnecessary programs running as start-ups by launching the System Configuration Utility from Run – Msconfig – Tab: Startup. Uncheck the programs which you don’t want to launch and reboot the computer once.

3. Pause the scheduled tasks

It may be a defrag or a virus scan, but make sure it is scheduled for a time when you are near a power outlet. If not then nix them for the moment.

4. Unplug external devices

USB devices are the biggest drainers of battery power. Unplug all external devices like an external mouse, PC cards, Wi-Fi, external speakers, Bluetooth and even an attached iPod.

5. Empty the CD/DVD Drives

Even if you don’t intend to use it, don’t leave any CD/DVDs as leftovers in the drives. A spinning drive sucks battery power like a sponge.

6. Go local

Desist using the DVD/external drives while running on batteries. Shift the content to the hard drive or run using (free) virtual drives like Pismo File Mount or even Microsoft’s Virtual CD ROM Control Panel.

7. Lower the lights

The LCD screen of a laptop is another huge power sink. Calibrate the brightness to the lowest level you can tolerate using the Function key toggles or using the Display Settings applet in the Control Panel.

8. Kill the sounds

Mute the speakers and try avoiding the use of multimedia software to maximize the battery life. Installed sound schemes also drain a battery perceptibly.

9. Rid the screensaver

To maximize battery life by a little, switch off the screensaver.

10. Visit Power Options

Get familiar with power management through the ‘Power Options’ applet in the Control Panel. Both XP and Vista come with advanced power management features which shut off components like the monitor and/or the hard drive after specified intervals. This again depends on the chosen ‘Power Schemes’ (for XP) in the same applet. For instance in XP, ‘Max Battery’ under Power Schemes can be selected for maximum battery optimization.

Similar settings can be found under ‘Mobile PC’ in the Control Panel of Vista.

11. Turn off the looks

Today’s OS’s like Windows Vista come with features like ‘Aero Glass’ which are resource guzzlers. One can turn it off and go for the ‘Classic’ appearance which consumes less power. In Vista, click on Desktop – Preferences – View Colour – Appearance – Classic Appearance and Windows Basic graphical interface. In XP it’s – Display Properties – Theme – Windows Classic.

Linux and even Macintosh are better optimized for longer battery life.

12. Hibernate is better than Sleep

In the Stand By mode (or sleep mode), the computer turns of the hard drive and the display but memory remains active while the CPU slows down. This draws on the battery. In contrast, hibernation mode is better because the computer saves the current state and shuts itself down completely thus saving power.

13. Get the most…work on the least

Working on too many programs while on the battery is a sure fire power drainer. Keep use of graphic intensive applications to a minimum. Working on a spreadsheet consumes much less than playing your favourite game. To increase the life of the battery open just one or two programs concurrently.

14. Ram in more RAM

Adequate RAM reduces the load on Virtual memory which by default resides on the hard drive. Though every extra bit of RAM uses up more power, it increases overall savings by short cutting access to the power hungry hard drive.

15. Keep it clean

A laptop with blocked air vents will generate more heat thus reducing the life of the battery. Clean the air vents regularly to keep operating temperatures low. Allow for open space around the vents for air to circulate freely. Keep the area around the laptop clean to avoid entry of dust.

16. Temperature is a silent killer

Undue heat kills off a battery slowly but surely. Avoid leaving the laptop under direct sunlight or inside a closed car.

17. Avoid the memory effect

A problem more for the older Ni-MH batteries than for Li-Ion batteries on which most modern laptops run. Memory effect relates to the loss of battery charge when they are repeatedly recharged after being only partially discharged. It can be prevented by discharging the battery fully and then completely recharging it. Li-Ion batteries on the other hand have no problems with partial discharges and re-charges and complete discharge is never recommended for this type.

18. Update software and drivers

This sounds a bit incongruous but then newer drivers and software are often designed to be more efficient (and hopefully less resource hungry).

19. Use the right adapter

Ensure that the adapter you use to charge the laptop battery is an original one or one with the correct specifications. A mismatch in the wattage could cause an overload thus damaging the laptop and the battery.

20. Pack it up

If you don’t plan to use the laptop on batteries for quite some time, ensure that the charge is nearly 40 percent – remove the batteries and store it in a cool place.

A typical lithium ion battery has an overall average life of 2-3 years. With some care and caution, its mortality can be delayed.

Have you found your own way to increase battery life of your laptop? Share the ‘life giving’ tips with us in the comments.

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• Two Replacements For The Windows Laptop Battery Meter (14)
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Today, we will be looking at some of the top Vista tricks to increase productivity and unlock Vista’s potential. Here they are (in no particular order):

Access Vista’s Super User Mode

Vista is riddled with an extremely large amount of “security” measures that may, or may not, be helpful. Running Vista as an Administrator may help, but did you know there is an even higher Administrator? Well, there is! All you need to do to unlock it is the following:

Step One: Go to “Start” and type cmd.

Step Two: When the command prompt loads, type the following:

Net user Administrator /active:yes

Step Three: When you switch user, you should now be able to see an Administrator account.

(Note: If you would like to hide the Administrator account, you can, again, go to “Start” and type cmd, then type: Net user administrator /active:no)

Save Battery Life on Laptops

Vista is quite a resource hog. If you have a laptop, this could present a problem. To maximize battery life and still run Vista on a viable amount of memory, simply do the following:

Step One: Hit the Windows Key and X at the same time.

Step Two: When “Windows Mobility Center” loads, you should be able to adjust settings, such as Display Brightness, Power Consumption, etc.

Remove Personal Information from Files

Nearly every single file on your computer contains some type of personal information – either information about the user, information on setting e.g. time, date, etc. In any case, it may be good to remove some of this information before making it available to the public, such as uploading a video or image online.

To do this, all you need to do is:

Step One: Select one or multiple file(s)

Step Two: Right-Click and select “Properties”

Step Three: Click “Details” and then click “Remove Properties and Personal Information.”

You can now have Vista create copies of the selected file(s) before changing/removing any of the information.

Tweaking Windows Power Button

Unlike Windows XP, the Vista power off button simply puts your computer to sleep when you were actually intending to turn it off. Fortunately, this can be easily changed with a simple tweak.

Step One: Click “Start,” then click “Control Panel.”

Step Two: Select “Hardware and Sound,” then click “Power Options.”

Step Three: Click “Change Plan Settings” under your current power plan.

Step Four: Click “Change Advanced Settings,” and then navigate to:

Power Buttons and Lid / Start Menu Power Button

Step Five: Select “Shut Down”

Disable UAC Notification Messages

One of the most ridiculous features of Vista are the continuous “confirmation” messages. Messages that pop up nearly every time you attempt to run any unknown application. Almost all of which are completely unnecessary, and waste time. Here is how you can disable these annoying uac notifications, quickly and easily:

Step One: Go to “Start” and click “Control Panel.”

Step Two: Click “User Accounts and Family Safety,” then click “Turn User Account Control On and Off.”

Step Three: Un-Select the box labeled User User Account Control (UAC) to help protect my computer.

Step Four: Click “OK,” and you’re done!

Alternatively, you can check out Norton’s UAC Tool (previously covered by MakeUseOf author Karl Gechlik) that can hlp you deal with those warning in a more manageable way.

Hope this helps some of you get that much closer to a nearly perfectly tweaked computer.

Stay tuned for more WinHack!

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