[NFBCS] Changing power settings for Windows 10

Fri Apr 24 19:44:36 UTC 2020

John,

Since each of our work environments might differ, I wanted to add a couple of things.  Some employers may either prevent one from changing startup programs or possibly over-ride changes, I wanted to mention that Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business can both be disabled at startup through options within their respective preferences.  I believe both are on the "general" tab but this kind of thing can change as new versions become available.

I have also changed my power button to perform a shutdown as you suggest.  Most often, the POWER button puts the computer to sleep.  If there is a problem, waking the computer up from a sleep state will usually wakt the problem up as well.  Shutting down completely can be helpful if one looses speech or gets into other difficulties.  Also, holding down the power button will usually perform a forced shutdown.  This can be helpful if one's machine gets completely frozen, but of course it is a higher risk alternative.  Windows 10 seems to do a better job than past versions, though, at handling abnormal shutdowns.  

Since Microsoft Narrator can run during certain Windows Update and repair functions now, it is worth learning a little about Narrator in case one needs it.  Also, taking the time to get the speech rate adjusted when one is not in the middle of an emergency is very helpful.  Narrator can be started and stopped now by pressing Windows-key+Control+ENTER, all at the same time.

There are a number of other settings within Power Management that I routinely changed.  These do not apply to all laptops or all situations.  I have found it frustrating, when taking notes, to find that my computer has gone to sleep.  The Power Management window lets one control the time of inactivity before automatically putting one's computer to sleep.  There are separate settings for this and other settings for battery power and AC power.  I have increased the amount of time on battery power before the computer goes to sleep to an hour or so.  In addition, laptops with a hard drive that is not solid state may have a setting that determines the amount of time after which the drive is turned off.  I have found that when the drive is turned off, there can be a significant delay when the hard drive is accessed when off during which one's system will not respond.  Therefore, I turned that function off.  

One can usually set one's display to be less bright when on battery.  This can save battery life.  One can even turn one's display off after a specified amount of time.  This seems to cause less of an issue for me than having the hard drive turn off or having to wake up the computer.  

If one lowers the brightness of one's display to save batteries, it is a good idea to know which key combinations will make the screen brighter if one needs help.  Usually, this is accomplished by pressing the "FN" key together with a function key.  Again, the actual key varies with different laptops.

Finally, some laptops come configured with the function keys performing local functions such as raising and lowering the volume of sound or the brightness of the screen.  This means that the "FN" key must be pressed together with a function key to perform the function that it used to perform.  Sometimes, it is necessary to make changes to a setting within BIOS settings to restore behavior to the way it has generally been handled in the past.  However, this is not always true any more.  Sometimes, this behavior can be changed within keyboard settings.  Exactly where it can be changed is going to vary with the model of laptop, though.

I hope people find this helpful.

Best regards,

Steve

-----Original Message-----
From: NFBCS <nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of John Miller via NFBCS
Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2020 9:43 PM
To: nfb-science at nfbnet.org; 'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List' <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
Cc: John Miller <johnmillerphd at hotmail.com>
Subject: [NFBCS] Changing power settings for Windows 10

Hello,

Does anyone have a recommend from National Braille Press on how to use Windows 10 most efficiently?

Other resource recommends on this point would also be welcome.

Lately I have been moving my Windows 10 laptop from location to location frequently.

I recently configured my laptop so that the power button performs shutdown.

Now I close down all of my applications manually to make sure I have saved any important data such as my notes file from today's notes in notepad and then tap the power button to turn off the laptop.

Then I know the laptop is powered down for the day or the weekend or as necessary.

Configuring this setting was kind of buried in the settings.

To change the power button settings on your computer:

Press the windows key and type power settings to bring up 'power & sleep settings' and press ENTER. Press TAB to get to 'Additional power settings.'

Press ENTER to open this page, press TAB to get to 'Choose what the power buttons do.' Press ENTER to open this page. Press TAB to get to 'When I press the power button: (on battery)' to access a dropdown that you can navigate around to select 'Do nothing, Sleep, Hibernate, Shut down, turn off the display.' Up or down arrow to modify this field to your desired button setting.

TAB to another box that says 'When I press the power button: (Plugged in)' to also modify a dropdown box with the same power settings.

I selected shutdown for both of these dialog boxes.

Select save changes by pressing TAB until you see 'Save Changes' and press ENTER.

The Windows 10 operating system leaves you in the control panel.

Press alt-f4 as necessary to close power settings and so forth.

Best Regards,

John

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