What’s This About?

Copernic Desktop Search has been my desktop search utility of choice for sometime. The main reasons for this were

1. Searching Network Shares
2. Reasonably stable
3. OK Interface

and in that order!

There are obviously other desktop search products out there and I have tried most of them. I quite like Google but I don’t like the browser interface. X1 has a great interface with lots of options for refining searches and setting personal searches but won’t index network shares in the free version. MS Windows product was not as good as other solutions but I will certainly be looking at the new version 4 in the next few days. Anyway up till now I have been using Copernic on my home network to index 3 desktop PCs, 2 Laptops, my Windows Home Server drives and my NAS boxes.

Yesterday I was greeted by the following message box while suing Copernic Desktop Search 2.3:

A major new version "update” (note they don’t use the word upgrade) is always interesting with the promise of new features and options.

In fact the message box states:

We recommend that you update the current version to benefit from the latest features and improvements.

I duly updated by letting the automatic download and install process run.

What Did I Find?

(more…)

Popularity: 36% [?]

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

What’s This About?

Edison is a program that allows you to change and save the standard windows power options in a simple interface for two different times “Work” and “Other”. It also has a simple scheduling option to switch between the two on a once per day basis.

Why Would You Want It?

You can easily change the standard Windows Power Options Properties by selecting Power Options in Control Panel as the last post  Windows Power Schemes - Set and Forget to Reduce Your Electricity Bill:

As you can see from the post under the Windows Power Options Properties - Power Schemes tab you can change all the options which are more than in Edison, you can also save as many different power schemes as you want. The advantage of Edison lies in the ability to automatically schedule two different power schemes to suit your pattern of use.

What Does It Do - The Essentials?

Summary:

• Quick and Simple Setting of 2 Power schemes
• Schedule Switching between the schemes once per day
• Helps save power for desktop PCs

Pros: What’s Good?

Features & Benefits

• Freeware
• See estimated savings

(more…)

Popularity: 25% [?]

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

What’s This About?

Windows Control Panel provides a means to customize settings for when various power saving options are triggered following a set period of “inactivity” (no use of keyboard or mouse). For a Desktop PC (rather than a laptop) these include:

1. Turn Off Monitor
2. Turn Off Hard Disks
3. System Standby
4. System Hibernate

There is also an option to select what happens when the PC power button is pressed.

Optimizing these settings to suit you personal use can bring benefits in saving electricity, reducing wear on hard drives and cutting costs.

This article is part of a series on power saving.

Why Would You Want to Use It?

Whether you run your PC 24/7 or just switch it on for occasional use you can still make a difference to your bills by using these settings. Laptop users will probably be more familiar with power saving as this is a way to reduce the drain on the battery when not connected to the charger. Laptop manufacturers often provide more sophisticated power saving utilities that allow more options to conserve battery power. Windows Vista also has more options than XP.

This article is based on XP and is for Desktops only. Vista is very similar, but with  more comprehensive options in a slightly different interface. The Laptop version of Power Options Properties provides additional tabs and options for when the Laptop is running on batteries or on mains power.

What Does It Do - The Essentials?

Summary:

• Turns off monitor after a predefined period of inactivity
• Turns off hard disks after a predefined period of inactivity
• System goes to Standby after a predefined period of inactivity
• System Hibernates after a predefined period of inactivity
• Set Power Button action to:
  • Do Nothing
  • Ask
  • Standby
  • Hibernate
  • Shutdown
• Enable Hibernation
• Configure UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply)

Pros: What’s Good?

Features & Benefits

• Part of standard Windows OS

(more…)

Popularity: 25% [?]

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

What’s This About?

WakeupOnStandBy  is a small program that will automatically wake up your computer from Standby or Hibernation mode at a predetermined schedule of time and days of the week, then run programs, open web pages, etc. before closing down your computer again if you want. It also has the ability to run multiple schedules allowing you to effectively shutdown and start your computer when you want.

Why Would You Want It?

Many computers are run 24/7 as a matter of convenience rather than necessity. Just to be able to get on the computer instantly without waiting for what might be quite a long boot period and get to your emails or instantly access web pages is a convenience. This is trade doff against the cost of running the PC and the consequential use of “scarce” resources, carbon footprint, global warming and a general disregard for he environment and future availability of resources for our children and grandchildren.

I am as bad as anyone and worse than many. I run several computers and some of them run 24/7 because I need them to be doing scheduled actions while  am not actively using them. These include indexing, backups, fetching email, etc. so the information is ready and available when I need. The fact is that these computers could be shutdown for several hours a day when I am at work or asleep without any real inconvenience. In fact unless your running a server of some sort or downloading over P2P networks you really don’t need any computer running all the time.

The recent severe increases in oil and gas prices has been a bit of a wake up call and started to make me look at ways of reducing my energy consumption so I can get the bills down. I am ashamed to admit it is the impact on my pocket and not my impact on the environment that has spurred me into action

So I am across WakeupOnStandBy in a search for a freeware program that would allow me to schedule the time my computer was running to suit my daily./weekly programme. As you will see it is not a perfect solution and could do with a bit of work to make it easier to use but it will certainly do the job needed with a little bit of perseverance.

However, if you want to save yourself some money or feel you should do your bit to preserve our planet it is worth a bit of effort to set up the necessary schedules

What Does It Do - The Essentials?

Summary:

• Wakes up your computer from Standby or Hibernation
• Puts the computer into Standby or Hibernation Mode
• Allows for scheduling based on time, days, and weeks
• Runs programs on Startup or Shutdown/Hibernate
• Saves power for desktop PCs
• Saves battery life for laptop PCs

Pros: What’s Good?

Features & Benefits

• Freeware

(more…)

Popularity: 38% [?]

Bookmark It

Hide Sites