Power saving software

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webfork
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Power saving software

#1 Post by webfork »

This might not seem like a real topic since power management settings largely require Admin settings, are not portable, and are device-specific. However, they're not always easy to setup and vary radically from system to system. They mostly do the same things (put the system on standby, reduce priority of all processes, power down the hard disk, turn off / lower the refresh rate of the monitor), so it seems they could be addressed with portable software.

My interest comes from issues with my current laptop with a bug in it's power management settings at the same time that my system is almost always running at 100%. I started looking for workarounds to save battery life.

Monitor
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Suggestions or experiences with this type of thing?
Last edited by webfork on Sun Oct 22, 2017 9:40 am, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: (cut mention of screensaver manager)

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joby_toss
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Re: Power Saving software

#2 Post by joby_toss »

Don't know what laptop you're using, but on my Acer there is a key combination (Fn+F6) that turns the monitor off; it can be turned on only by hitting the Space key. The laptop is still running, no log-off, no sleep etc.

As a screensaver I use one from Se-soft (there is a portable version) that shows the clock and dims the screen.

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webfork
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Re: Power Saving software

#3 Post by webfork »

joby_toss wrote:Don't know what laptop you're using, but on my Acer there is a key combination (Fn+F6) that turns the monitor off; it can be turned on only by hitting the Space key. The laptop is still running, no log-off, no sleep etc.
I used to have something like that on my old ThinkPad, but not my current device. It only wants to go down *very low* rather than just turning off.
joby_toss wrote:As a screensaver I use one from Se-soft (there is a portable version) that shows the clock and dims the screen.
Very cool. I'll test that out.

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tproli
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Re: Power Saving software

#4 Post by tproli »

I tried Inksaver many years ago (commercial, not portable). Apparently it worked but haven't used it for long.

It saves ink instead of power but I guess it fits in here.

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joby_toss
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Re: Power Saving software

#5 Post by joby_toss »

To save memory, you could try Nircmd. It has a monitor off command:

Code: Select all

nircmd.exe monitor off
Create a batch file or a shortcut for it. I think it was mentioned here before...

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Re: Power Saving software

#6 Post by joby_toss »

Another nice app is Monitor Off Utility. Requires .Net v2.0, but it is portable.

Image

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webfork
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Re: Power saving software

#7 Post by webfork »

So another addition to the power saving crowd. I wrote up a whole post on this but it ultimately got resolved by no longer having a Thinkpad. Still, this might be useful to someone ...

Problem

I looked all over the place for something that would lock my computer AND turn off the monitor but I could only ever find programs that would do one or the other.

The issue revolved around the fact that one of the machines I use is a Lenovo Thinkpad, which has some fantastic power management features. Unfortunately, several bugs in the software have created a situation where I effectively had to turn them all off because it was causing a screen refresh issue.

Solution (sorta)

Running Wizmo - https://www.grc.com/wizmo/wizmo.htm with the "blindlock" argument sort of does the trick. On Win7 return from lock is a little annoying (each action will bring the monitor back online for a moment, then fade out again. Additionally, the shake=0 command (to prevent registration of mouse movement) doesn't work under Win7.

This program hasn't been updated for some time so it's unlikely these are getting fixed. Still, the program doesn't save any settings so it's definitely portable. Technically it's a command-line program as it doesn't do anything without arguments.

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Related: The PFW Wizmo thread: https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... f=6&t=4150

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Re: Power saving software

#8 Post by webfork »

Update here:

* WakeMeOnLan - one way to I've kept power usage down is to have multiple computers on my network. My primary computer is a low power, all-Intel laptop. I then login to the higher end machines only when needed, since they take up more electricity on idle. WakeMeOnLan and similar programs will let you remotely wake the computers before login.
* Dell computer owners - look into downloading the available free Dell Power Manager software. I mention it because I have my processor set to the "Quiet" on all my main machine, the lowest power usage option, and haven't seen any issues.

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Re: Power saving software

#9 Post by freakazoid »

The following are not portable solutions, but check the native Windows power performance options and use the least-powered plan. If you are using an AMD CPU or GPU, you could try downloading AMD Adrenalin and use the Power-saving advisor.
is it stealth? ;)

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