Different computers have different power-management
requirements and abilities. You might want the monitor on your main
desktop computer to shut down after a few minutes of idleness,
but you might also want the computer itself to "stay awake" constantly.
With a portable computer, you might want everything to go to sleep
after a few minutes of idleness. You can adjust the power plan so that
the computer does these things automatically, or you can make the
adjustments manually by specifying what you want to happen when you
press a power button or close the lid of a portable computer. For your
protection, you can also require that only you may unlock your account
when the computer wakes up from Sleep mode.
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Click the Start button, type power in the Search box of the Start menu, and choose Power Options from the menu to display the Power Options window.
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Click Show Additional Plans if you want to see plans other than the
preferred ones, including any custom plan you might have created.
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Select a power scheme.
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Click Change Plan Settings for the plan you want to use.
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In the Edit Plan Settings window that appears, examine the settings. If you want to modify a setting, specify a new value.
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If you want to make more detailed changes— for example, to specify
when the hard disk is to be turned off—click Change Advanced Power
Settings. In the Power Options dialog box that appears, make the changes
you want, and click OK.
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In the Edit Plan Settings dialog box, click Save Changes.
Set the Power Buttons and the Password Requirement
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In the Power
Options window, click Choose What The Power Buttons Do (or click Choose
What The Power Button Does, if you're using a desktop computer) to
display the System Settings window.
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Specify what you want to happen to the items available on your computer when you press a button or close the computer's lid.
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Click here to authorize changes to the password requirements.
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Click an option to specify whether you want to require a password when the computer wakes up from Sleep mode.
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Click Save Changes.
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Close the Power Options window.
Tip
For obvious reasons, only a portable computer with a battery will display the On Battery settings.
Tip
You can quickly switch power plans or can access the Power Options window by clicking the Power icon on the taskbar, if it's displayed.
Note
Tip
If you require a password when the computer
wakes up, you'll see the standard logon screen, from which you can log
on to your currently locked account.
