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From XP's Help File:
Power Options overview
Using Power Options in Control Panel, you can reduce the power consumption of any number of your computer devices or of your entire system. You do this by choosing a power scheme, which is a collection of settings that manages the power usage by your computer. You can create your own power schemes or use the ones provided with Windows.
You can also adjust the individual settings in a power scheme. For example, depending on your hardware, you can:
Turn off your monitor and hard disks automatically to save power.
Put the computer on standby when it is idle. While on standby, your entire computer switches to a low-power state where devices, such as the monitor and hard disks, turn off and your computer uses less power. When you want to use the computer again, it comes out of standby quickly, and your desktop is restored exactly as you left it. Standby is particularly useful for conserving battery power in portable computers. Because Standby does not save your desktop state to disk, a power failure while on Standby can cause you to lose unsaved information.
Put your computer in hibernation. The hibernate feature saves everything in memory on disk, turns off your monitor and hard disk, and then turns off your computer. When you restart your computer, your desktop is restored exactly as you left it. It takes longer to bring your computer out of hibernation than out of standby.
Typically, you turn off your monitor or hard disk for a short period to conserve power. If you plan to be away from your computer for a while, you put your computer on standby, which puts your entire system in a low-power state.
Put your computer in hibernation when you will be away from the computer for an extended time or overnight. When you restart the computer, your desktop is restored exactly as you left it.
To use Windows Power Options, you must have a computer that is set up by the manufacturer to support these features. For more information, see the documentation that came with your computer.
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I will be using the laptop in Florida as my main computer for 6 months. I plan on keeping it plugged in while in use to save on the battery. Is this a good idea? I will power it off every night just like I do my PC. When I close the lid I have it set up to 'sleep'. Should it hibernate instead? I never could understand the difference between the two. I remember hearing somewhere that one was better than the other, but which one? I have 3 power plans listed. It's set on balance right now. The other two are power saver and high performance. Which is better, and why? Is there anything else I should know about taking care of this laptop, which is a Toshiba Satellite L355D, AMD QL 60, 3072MB 800MHz, 160GB HDD.
