The world is getting more mobile day by day and to keep the pace you need power in your batteries. But it has a limitation, you need to charge it again and again to keep them running.
Although Windows 7 has many power management improvements, and while the Power Efficiency Diagnostic Tool in Windows 7 can give you a lot of power optimization tips, laptop batteries are still not as efficient as we'd like them to be. They can maximum hold power for 5-6 hours only. So, do you want to maximize the efficient use of battery?
The trick is to squeeze the most out of the power that's available. Here are these few tricks which will improve the battery performance in a dramatic way.
The most common tip, if you have time to do only one thing:
Use the Power saver power plan to maximize your battery life. (To choose the Power saver plan, open Power Options in Control Panel.)
Some other ways to help stretch your computer's battery life:
A power plan is a collection of hardware and system settings that control how your laptop manages power. Windows 7 has two default plans:
Display is the most power consuming part of a computer—even more than a hard disk and CPU. Most of the laptops come with dedicated keys to control the brightness and contrast ratio of the display. You can also adjust the display brightness from Power Options in Control Panel.
Decrease time for Windows dims and turns off the display
You can save power by having Windows dim and then turn off the display after a period of inactivity. You can save more power if you decrease the time and increase the efficiency of battery.
Many USB devices use power just by being connected. If you use a USB mouse, you can save power by disconnecting the mouse and by using a touch pad. If you use a USB flash drive, unplug it when you're not using it.
These devices also use power. If you don't need them, turn them off.
You can use Windows Mobility Center to manage most of these options. To open WMC, Click Start and type Windows Mobility center and click on the first result.
If you know any other good tricks, do share with us!
Do you suspect that someone is wrongfully using your wireless network connection? Maybe your wireless connection is slow these days and you suspect that someone has hacked into it. Well, there are several free tools available which can help you detect who is using your connection illegally. I am covering two tools here, but if you know of any more, please do share below in the comments.
Wireless Network Watcher is the 3rd new tool released by Nirsoft, this month. It is a small utility that scans your wireless network and displays the list of all computers and devices that are currently connected to your network.
It will display the following information for each connection:
The tool also allows you to export the list of connected devices and save it as an html,xml, csv or a text file.
Another utility for sniffing if someone else is using your wireless network is Zamzom.
Zamzom Wireless Network Tool lets you see all the users that are using your wireless network. There are two scan options but only the Fast Scan is available in the free version, but that should be good enough for most, I suppose. Once the scan is completed, it displays the IP address and MAC address.
We at The Windows Club are always striving to offer you the best paid software for free and we are always thankful to the companies who graciously offer their licenses free to our readers. This week we have an exciting giveaway for you: 10 licenses of Bitdefender Internet Security 2012.
The latest and the best, Bitdefender Total Security 2012 is one of the finest security software available for the Windows operating system. The product is sleek, silent and effective in dealing with threats from hackers, viruses, and identity theft attacks.
Bitdefender Internet Security 2012 boasts a completely overhauled user interface and has been designed to meet the demands of computer users that require protection to work 24/7 without interrupting their work and enjoyment.
Key new features include social networking protection, an Autopilot mode and scan dispatcher to maintain system performance.
The new social networking security feature will filter and block social-networking specific e-threats by scanning the links users receive from friends on Facebook, whilst also monitoring and advising on privacy settings.
Bitdefender Internet Security 2012 costs $49.95 but 10 single-PC, 1-year licenses are being offered here free to TWC readers.
To win a license of this fine internet security suite, you have to do two things:
1. Download its trial version from here and let us know which one new feature you like the best. The more original your answer, the more your chances
2. Share the following on any social site like Twitter, Facebook, Google+, etc and post its status URL here.
Giveaway: Check out the new @Bitdefender Internet Security Suite, 2012 at http://bit.ly/qUMVJV – and win a free license!
Share on multiple social sites and you increase your chances.
Incidentally, I wonder if you have had a look at the new brand identity that BitDefender has created for themselves. Quite cool I must say! Visit its home page to have a look at the transformation!
The giveaway will remain open for 7 days, and the winners declared thereafter. The licenses will be forwarded to the winners by me.
By Kelly Green Morrison and Karen Whitehouse, Download.com
When CNET Download.com opened its doors in 1996, it was home to 3,000 small shareware and freeware applications. Online software distribution was still in its infancy. What a difference a near-decade makes! Since 1996, we've watched the rise of instant messaging, digital audio and the MP3 format, file sharing, spyware and antispyware, and the open-source movement, just to name a few. And we've watched as online software distribution has gone from pipe dream to reality. These 10 applications best represent the top trends in downloading over the past decade.
 |  ICQToday instant messengers are ubiquitous, but when ICQ ("I Seek You") was first released in 1997, it was truly the first of its kind. Though competitors such as Yahoo Instant Messenger and AIM have since encroached on ICQ's territory, this chat client remains enormously popular with international users, and it has remained one of Download.com's most popular applications since its launch. | ||||||
 |
| ||||||
| | |||||||
 |
|  | |||||
 |
| | |||||
 |
| | |||||
 |
| | |||||
 |
| | |||||
 |
| | |||||
 |
| | |||||
 |
| ||||||
Who doesn't remember this controversial file-sharing kingpin? Developed by Northeastern University student Shawn Fanning, Napster was a groundbreaking application that enabled users to share MP3s painlessly for the first time through a peer-to-peer network. Napster has since been sued, shuttered, and reborn as a subscription music service, but its legacy remains.
