I’d like to offer this thread as a collection point for tips and tweaks that allow the TR to maximize run-time while on the road. If they enhance performance, all well and good, but I’d like the focus to stay on topic. (dreaming).

Please just post your tips & tweaks. Other than for corrections or enhancements please comment privately or in a new thread.

One last comment. Some T&T’s may offer significant savings, most will provide small to minute savings. The idea is is that cumulatively they can make a difference. Take the ones that strike your fancy and are within your technical grasp and inclination. Let those of us who are anal about these things get on with tweaking our TR’s

One final note. You can give your post an appropriate Subject heading if you desire. Please credit any threads which may discuss your solution and provide a link if appropriate.

When you’re on the road, it’s a good idea not to play any games or movies on your computer. Those suck up battery power like crazy, depending on the game you’re playing. Also, when listening to mp3s, create a playlist and close your laptop’s lid so the screen will turn off and conserve power.

If you must watch movies of some type, I heard from somewhere on the boards that it’s a good idea to copy the movie in DivX format to save from using the DVD/CD drive and save power—whoever suggested that tip, that’s a good idea.

And limit the accessories you plug into the ports ( optical mouse, usb storage, etc ). That could save you from using up more energy just to use those devices.

Well, there’s my contribution. Hope it’s useful to someone.

-best,
Concura

31 July 2004

Windows XP does a lot of housekeeping in the background. While the PC is setting there waiting for you to do something, it will tidy up files, indexes and a bunch of other stuff.

Before you hit the road, while still on AC power, you can force XP to run the Idle Process queue. It can take 10 to 15 minutes to complete and you’ll see a lot of disk access.

Go to START, RUN and enter:

Rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks

This came from a Microsoft article discussing benchmarking XP. Obviously they consider background tasks enough of an overhead to want them out of the way when XP is being benchmarked. You might want them out of the way so your battery doesn’t have to carry the load.

Idle Task Scheduling: The ProcessIdleTask API

The API itself is synchronous, so it wont return until the idle tasks have completed.

I installed a 96Mb RAM Disk that IE uses for it’s Temporary Internet Files cache. The advantages for me are that it’s fast, no hard disk access or file fragmentation and it’s self-cleaning when I do a reboot. It stays intact in sleep or hibernate.

Setup:
Install the drive software, boot and configure. Then go to IE TOOLS, INTERNET OPTIONS, under Temporary Internet Files: SETTINGS, and set the size. I used 95 just in case there was any overhead. Then hit the MOVE FOLDER button and find the drive. APPLY and exit. While on the settings page, I suggest ticking the Check for newer versions... to on Every visit. (paricularly important if you’re going to use GPRS access)

Use:
Just use it. If you’ve been all over the web you might want to use the IE TOOLS Delete Files option or reboot. Either way, visit all your usual sites while still on AC power if you want to be certain they’re in there.

I used the free softare from AR-soft: http://www.arsoft-online.de/index.php

Thanks to Gr00vy0ne for this tidbit. The original thread and discussion of other drive software is here:

http://www.siliconpopculture.com/sonytr/viewtopic.php?t=7&start=0

I save on battery by using VirtualCD. This is a program that loads exact copies of your entire DVDs or CD onto the hard drive so it doesn’t have to access the DVD/CDRW drive. I used this on my previous laptops which did not have built in CD drives. The DVDs run very well. It is a trade-off between allows the hard-drive to spin or the CD drive to spin. I think more juice is used by having the CD drive spin. Anyone disagree?

Yes, the optical drive is an energy hog. A large Memory Stick or other flash media might be even more effective if the movie is small enough.

I’ve just begun to play with the Power Panel. If you use programs other than the Sony defaults, they can be specified within different battery power profiles. Under the DVD profile the Optical Drive Power Saving option (normally off) might prompt you to turn off the drive if the movie is on HD. One of you movie mavens want to check this out?

dbs, I do something similar.  When the TR is running on batteries, the power profile is set to disable the optical drive and memory stick slot.  I do not use the optical drive while I am in my car with clients.  I also make a habit of reducing the brightness a little.  This can make a big difference on battery life.  Sometimes up to an extra hour if I am in my bedroom and the wife is asleep.  At full brightness it is like having a light on in the room, and she doesn’t like that. :wink:

The system tray.

When I first booted my TR I noticed what a busy place my System Tray was. After installing my core applications and a few nifty programs the tray, when extended, took half the Task Bar.

Cosmetics aside, many of these little icons represent a program that’s stealing processor cycles. Even for the ones that must run, the system tray icon takes a few cycles. System tray icons display information on an underlying service and/or provide quick access to menus, utilities or program sets. Relative examples of the two are the Network Connection icons and the Mouspad icon.

For each icon, you must determine how important it is and whether it should display or even be running. Icons tied to auto-update services or program groups like office suites I consider a waste of overhead. You may not. Services like the mouspad, power management and volume should usually be running. Services often offer a show icon option.

If you want the icon and its associated program to go away, first check the primary application setup. Uncheck any automatically check for updates options. (Check for updates on program load is OK) Look also for options like Minimize to system tray or stay resident.

Resident Services Icons

Resident services such as the mousepad utility have a “show icon” check box. Unless you access them often, why have the icon clutter. They are all accessable in the START, PROGRAMS folder if you need them.

Utility Icons

Programs like Bluespace NE are handy to have resident while you’re setting up hardware. Once you have your bluetooth devices discovered and configured, Bluespace NE can be removed from the START, Programs, STARTUP folder. Bluespace isn’t necessary for device operation and can be accessed from the Programs folder.

If the program is in the STARTUP folder, you can CUT and PASTE it to the desktop until you’re sure it causes no problems and you can live without it. If not, put it back.

Program Group Icons

If you really use one or more of the included programs/utilities on a regular basis, you might be better off putting icons for the individual items you actually use on the taskbar or desktop.

Auto-update Utilities

Many programs want to automatically call home and check for updates. Don’t worry. When you run the application there’s allways a “check for updates” option and some will prompt or even automatically attempt to update. To turn this off, the more polite programs allow you to opt out. If not, check the STARTUP folder. Really nasty ones stick something in the Registry which is beyond the scope of this article.

The last word

I can’t begin to guess what you want in your tray, nor can I provide an exhaustive list of necessary or superfluous programs. Use your best judgement and, if in doubt, ask in the Troubleshooting forum before actually removing a program or service.