Setting Up A Computer To Minimise Energy Use

Computers - General	Setting Up A Computer	Computer Monitors
Computers - Top Tips	How To Set Up A Computer

1.	Set the monitor to turn off after ten minutes of inactivity and the screen saver to start after 15 minutes.	The screen saver never appears but it does mean that when the system resumes a password screen can be presented which is good security. Running a screen saver can also stop the processor from switching to low power mode.
2.	Set the hard disk(s) to power off after ten minutes of inactivity.	The short wait for hard disks to power up when needed is a small price to pay.
3.	Set the system to hibernate after 20 minutes.	The hibernate option may need to be enabled on some computers. Older hardware may not support hibernate. To obtain hibernate on Windows 7 you may need to disable hybrid sleep which is the default.

Click on the relevant link below for more details on how to do this on your operating system:

Windows 2000

Windows XP

Windows Vista

Windows 7

The figures above can be reduced further to save more energy but at the expense of a short wait while a computer comes out of hibernate.

To achieve even greater control and save more energy install a shutdown utility such as AllOff or AllOff Lite which will shutdown or hibernate the computer due solely to lack of user input. It is quite normal for computers to carry out house keeping tasks such as disk de fragmenting when idle which can stop the computer going into standby for many hours. If you have more than two computers networked together a utility such as LANOff may help control energy use. The computer utilities referred to here are all from JSutils a site that specialises in energy saving and calculation software.