New notebook need some advice?

[Michael319]

i keep hearing diff things about notebooks. i used to have a dell, but i got a new sony vaio and i just wanted to know.

i know its bad to keep the computer on over night, so i wouldn't do that, but during the day when i have it plugged in should i take out the battery. i heard you shouldn't leave the battery in when your connected to the ac adapter and instead just use the notebook with the ac adapter and if you go portable then put in the battery and use it. But anyone have any specific advice like can i use the battery and have it discharge a lot then charge it or is it better to take the batter out and just use the wall outlet.

also if i want to keep the computer lid closed, but still keep my aim on so i can keep an away message how do i do that? is it hibernate, stand by or does vista have something new, because i heard the vista has some new setting.

also a good program to keep my computer clean. I have norton that came with it but maybe something for spyware or do i not need it.

thanks sorry for so many questions, i keep askin people, but no one can seem to help me.

[RatherPlayHalo]

also if i want to keep the computer lid closed, but still keep my aim on so i can keep an away message how do i do that? is it hibernate, stand by or does vista have something new, because i heard the vista has some new setting.

Standby turns everything except the bare minimum components off, so it would kick you offline.

Hibernate takes it a step further. It sort of takes a snapshot of where you were and reloads everything accordingly.

Not sure about Vista. If anyone else can shed some light on this, I would appreciate it as well. I always put my notebook into Standby, and when I come back to it, I'm no longer on AIM.

[Michael319]

o ok. i got ya. so ethier way both hibernate and stand by won't let me stay on aim?

so i would have to set it to closing lid and not turn off?

how about anyone with battery help interms of what to do if u have it plugged in and stuff as i mentioned above.

and spyware or a good program to help my computer stay crap free. thanks ill probably only see this tm, but please post some stuff.

thanks.

[bobb-mini]

i know its bad to keep the computer on over night, so i wouldn't do that,
WHY? If u need to have the thing on, just configure it for quiet/battery mode, and the notebook will run its its minimum speed during idle, and turns off LCD, puts HD to sleep. The wear/tear is minimum. In this case battery mode doesn't mean ur running on battery, it just means you want to draw the minimum amount of power.

U wouldn't do that to an old notebook, but today's notebook, u can do all of the above, so your "hear-say" needs updating.

battery... blah - blah - blah
U hear different things because everybody have different requirement. Never mind what the Joneses do, do what works for you. If u keep it mostly on the desktop then go ahead and run it wo the battery. I keep mine on 'cuz I take it to the backyard, to the bedroom... do what works for you and don't worry about it.

also if i want to keep the computer lid closed, but still keep my aim on
Do u need to know of your AIM the second they arrive? In this case the cpu must be running, just have power management turn off LCD and HD as per above.

Play with the power management settings, there should be a applet for that. Fun and educational. There should be a settings what says WHEN LID CLOSE -> THEN... blah - blah.

[melsmusic]

Well the bad part of leaving your notebook on AC all the time is you can cook the notebook. If you have it elevated, even on one of those fan coolers, it will help if you do want to be on AC all the time. But charging it while it's off overnight is fine. Once it's charged it will cut out. It's more while the notebook is doing heavy processing & on charge. You should be more concerned with this aspect than battery life which is quite cheap to replace. I have a temperature monitor with my Asus notebook which will pop up when the limit is reached, and I just unplug it for a while. But it is a good idea to discharge the battery every once in a while (monthly at least) for it to last longer. You should be able to contact Sony to see if they have a similar program and what temp is considered to be their limit.

I was a Nortons user for a long time. I found it great, although a lot of people hate it. But I was looking for a lower resource Internet security program when Nortons ran out as 7 uses around 350 meg. I purchased Kaspersky Internet Security about 2 months ago and couldn't be happier. Beats Nortons hands down. It covers spyware & spam if you use outlook also.

Don't know anything on Vista yet sorry. Try this site, they are great for Window issues and questions. They may also answer your battery questions in more depth. Congrats on the Sony, I've been eying them off myself. http://forums.pcper.com/

[Michael319]

ok so your trying to tell me that the new notebooks you can keep the battery in and just keep it plugged in? because i was gonna just take the battery out and use the wall power, but im sure the notebook will cut off the charging to the battery once it is charged.

i don't really need to keep it on at night i mean honestly who messages me at night. plus its not good to leave your computer on for weeks and week at end, so i guess only if its necessary ill keep it on at night, but i probably never will.

also whats the diff between sleep and hibernate?


both will sign me offline right?

[mizzle]

my notebook had power settings...it was on windows 2000 though where i could choose standby, hibernate, or do nothing...i shut my computer when going to sleep but still stayed on aim (i was in the dorms and got drunk messages in the middle of the night all the time)
i dont have vista so i dont know if it can be done but i remember it was buried inside the settings menu somewhere
also on my old laptop i kept it plugged in so that the battery would stay charged...then when i needed to go mobile i had a few hours before my battery would die...just like any computer its not good to leave it on all the time...a reset or god forbid a shut down every now and then may be in order
enjoy your laptop

[Michael319]

cool thanks, well i did have it on wall power before and i took out the battery, but i figured that it should be ok to just keep the battery in and just use the wall powere, because if the battery is charged it isn't going to keep getting charged. only if i unplug it is when it should use the battery.

i set it so that when i close the lid it goes to sleep, which i think is same as stand by, but what does hibernate do? which is better?


thanks

[bdb]

Its a lithium-ion battery. Do some searching and you can find what's good and bad for those. Here's how I understand it: They will self-discharge over time if unpowered, and they are good for a limited number of recharges. Its damaging to them to be completely discharged. What this means is: its probably best to leave it in and keep it charged. Plus, when you need it, it'll be charged.

I have notebooks of various age - the oldest being about 16 years old (on its original battery), and I have always left the battery in when plugged in.

I don't usually turn mine off unless I know I'm not going to be using it for extended periods (i.e. hours). This has never been a problem. I just try to make sure the screen shuts off and its not running something processor-intensive (unless there's a reason to do so, of course).

Yeah, I hate how they go into standby when you close the lid, too. The first thing I do is turn that off. Go into control panel->Power Options->Advanced, and change "When I close the lid" to "Do Nothing". Then when you close the lid it'll just shut off the screen, and draw little power.

As far as heat goes, this was mostly an issue with later-model Pentium processors. My P4M runs very hot when the CPU is being taxed (I don't need a CPU meter, I can tell by all the noise of the whirring fans!). That CPU can scale back and it runs cooler most of the time.

The newer Core architecture (which your new Vaio probably uses) runs quite cool most of the time. Our new laptop is about as cool on as it is off, and I've yet to hear a fan on it. I'm not sure about AMD stuff, but I doubt that applies to you.

[Michael319]

thank you that was very helpful. my sony vaio has the newest pentium core, and it does sound like it runs very cool and doesn't have a loud fan like the old lap tops.

thanks for your advice. I think i will as you said just keep it plugged in with the battery in so the battery stays charged. that way when i want to use it portablethe battery will be fully charged and you are right it is not good to charge and discharge.

i never leave it on over night, but i guess if i really want to leave the computer on during the day i can put it to close the lid and do nothing, as long as your sure that keeping it on and just having the screen on for hours at a time are ok? im not talking over night im talking during the day. Thanks again

i have norton, but what is a good spyware program? cccleaner just cleans what?

[bdb]

ccleaner just cleans the registry and temporary directories. I've used a few different spyware programs, and the one that has worked best is Webroot Spysweeper. It costs money (an annual subscription), but often you can find it cheap with rebates (it was free with rebate at Fry's yesterday). I tried some free ones, but they always let a lot of stuff get through. The amount of spyware you get will be related to how much time you spend on less official websites, like warez, porn, anime and such. You'll get even less if you use Firefox instead of Explorer (hackers love to exploit it). I haven't had any spyware in a long, long time.

If you tell it to "do nothing" when you close the lid, it should shut the screen off. That's the whole point of it, really. Usually there's a little nub near the hinge that lets it know that the lid is shut - just push it with your finger or a pen sometime, and make sure it really does shut off the monitor. I've never seen a laptop that didn't.

About hibernate vs standby - Hibernate saves the memory to disk, then shuts the computer off completely. It takes awhile to come back, but not as long as a complete shutdown. Standby puts the computer in a "semi-off" state, so it comes back in a few seconds. It uses some battery, but not nearly as much as when its on. An unplugged computer in standby will typically drain a battery in a day or two. Standby is the default XP behavior when the screen is shut. Which to use? Personally I don't use either much anymore. These new systems shutdown and turn on pretty quickly. I leave it on if I might be using it anytime soon, or I turn it off. It keeps the memory cleaned out. But if you want to use these, standby is fine as long as you're not leaving it on battery for a long time. Hibernate has to be turned on in the control panel power settings, and might be better if you leave on battery a lot.

[Michael319]

thanks! i guess i'll leave it on standby since i have the computer usually plugged in anyway so it won't drain the battery right? thanks for all the help, i guess i'll try and get a good spyware cleaner or something