You automatically conserve battery power each time you attach an AC power source to the computer. When the AC adapter is attached, the battery or batteries, if

installed, are being charged while the computer runs from AC power. The life expectancy of your battery is determined largely by the number of charges it receives, so

use an AC power source to run the computer if one is available.

Use the Windows 98 Power Management Properties window to adjust the way the computer uses battery power. Options in the window slow or stop some

internal devices when the computer is idle.

Take advantage of the computer's power management modes, set in the Windows 98 Power Management Properties window, when you leave the computer

unattended for long periods of time. Standby, Turn Off Monitor, and Turn Off Hard Drive allow you to maximize power conservation when your work is

interrupted.

NOTE: You can also set power management modes in the Setup program's

always override the power management selections chosen in the Setup program.

When the computer is using battery power, remove PC Cards that you are not using.

Experiment with

power conservation features

NOTE: You might have to trade some of the computer's performance for increased battery operating time. For example, if you turn off the hard-disk

drive, you may experience a delay the next time the computer tries to access the drive.

Using Microsoft

Windows

Complete the following steps in Windows 98 to access the Power Management Properties window and set the power management features:

1. Click the Start button, point to Settings, and click Control Panel.

2. Double-click the Power Management Properties icon.

The Power Management Properties window contains the following tabs:

Power Schemes allows you to select one of three power mode settings.

Alarms allows you to set the Low battery and Critical battery alarms to alert you when the system battery falls below a certain percentage. When you received your

computer, the Low battery and Critical battery alarms check boxes were not checked. Dell recommends that you do not select these options.

Power Meter allows you to view the percentage of battery life remaining when your system is operating on battery power. If your system is operating on AC power,

the system displays a message.

Advanced allows you to display the Power Meter on the Windows 98 taskbar and to display a password prompt when the computer resumes from Standby mode.

3. Select the appropriate settings for the power management features you want.

Experimenting with Power Conservation

In general, the lower the value you set for each time-out option, the longer your battery's charge lasts. On the other hand, setting high time-out values tends to optimize

the computer's performance. For best results, experiment with the following conservation methods:

Use the computer with all the options set to their defaults.

Use the computer with all the time-out options disabled or set to Off.

Use the computer with all the time-out options set to their minimum values.

Evaluate the way that the different time-out settings affect how long you can operate the computer on battery power versus the relative efficiency of how your software

performs.

Checking the Battery Status

The battery status LED on the front of the computer's display indicates the battery's current operating status. The LED has three states:

Flashing green, which indicates that the AC adapter is connected and the battery is charging.

Solid green, which indicates that the AC adapter is connected and the battery is fully charged.

No light, which indicates that the AC adapter is not connected.

Turn Off Hard-Disk Drive

to achieve the optimum power conservation for your work environment.

98 to Conserve Battery Power

Experimenting with Power Conservation

Save-to-Disk Suspend Mode

Save-to-Disk Suspend File