Fix Windows Vista Errors

It is common to experience some problems with the Windows Vista power options, so here are some common problems and remedies.

No Standby Option

Windows Vista has removed the standby option. So don’t worry about this.

No Hibernate Option

Windows Vista has a new hybrid sleep mode. If this is turned on, you may not see the hibernate option in the shut down menu. To change the hybrid sleep mode, you will need to access the advanced power settings.

Control Panel -> Systems and Maintenance -> Power Options.

When using the hibernate option, Windows Vista writes the data to a file called hiberfil.sys. It might be possible that you have run out of disk space and Vista can no longer write to this file. Check this if you believe the hibernate option should be available.

If you have Disk Cleanup running, it may have cleaned the hibernate file. If this is the case untick the “Hibernation File Cleaner” option.

Cannot Wake From Hibernation

If you cannot wake the computer from hibernation then you should make sure you have installed all of the latest Windows Vista service packs and hot fixes. This has been an issue in the past and Vista has released fixes.

Some common error codes that you might experience:

STOP 0×1000007E
STOP 0×0000009F
STOP 0×00000044

The other problem you might experience is waking too early from hibernation. This can be difficult to debug, so make sure you check out any external and USB devices attached to the computer, as they are most likely the cause. Also check any software that might be running or set on a schedule that may interfere with hibernation.

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Free Download - Fix WIndows Vista Errors

Previously we have discussed some of the financial and environmental benefits available with the new Vista power saving features.

Today we will discuss more about the power management features and how they work. By default the Windows Vista power managment features should be enabled, but it is worth knowing more about them, so you can implement your own power saving strategy.

The Windows Vista power features were created to reduce power consumption, but they also had the goal of making it very easy, fast and reliable to turn the computer “on” or “off”.

Previous versions of Windows had standby, hibernate and shut down. Vista has Sleep, Hybrid Sleep and Hibernation.  You can access the power management features in the following location:

Control Panel -> Systems and Maintenance -> Power Options

Power modes in Windows Vista:

Sleep: The computer enters a low power consumption mode, with programs and data in memory. Restarting from the sleep mode is very fast and should only take a couple of seconds.

Hybrid Sleep: The computer enters a low power consumption mode, with programs and data in memory but the computer also writes data to disk. So if there was a power outage, the computer can be recovered to the same state.  Restarting from hybrid sleep mode will be slower than in regular sleep mode.

Hibernate: Computer data is saved to a special file. If the computer is switched off or unplugged, all data is stored and state can be recovered.

Additionally, you can also set what happens when the power button is pressed, or when the lid is closed (for laptops). For example: you could set the computer into hibernate mode when the power button is pressed, instead of shutting down. The same also applies to closing the lid.

As mentioned earlier, the default settings in Vista are setup to conserve power, however, you can optimize these, based on whether you want to use sleep mode, hybrid sleep or hibernation.

Your monitor flicker or the refresh rate of your PC can contribute to problems such as eyestrain or headaches with the user.

Basically, humans can see light flickering up to 25 hertz. Anything above that level humans can not see but it can affect people, that is why you can get major eyestrain looking at a flickering light (above 100 hertz).

You should control your flickering in your PC to reduce any chance of the mentioned problems. You should control the flickering on your computers screen by reducing the refresh rate to at least 75 hertz.

To do this in Vista just follow this;

• Open control panel
• Click appearance and personalization
• Click personalization
• Click display settings
• Click advanced settings
• Click the monitor tab
• Select a new refresh rate
• Click apply and OK

In the past week I have done a few posts on ease of access settings in Windows Vista, those being the magnifier and the on-screen keyboard. Today I will talk about a feature in the ease of access section that will make choosing any setting much easier.

You can select an option call Let Windows Suggest Settings, and funnily enough what it does is select certain ease of access setting on the data from a few questions.

When you open the Let Windows Suggest Settings box it will start asking you some questions, after you answer all these it will then list out a bunch of appropriate setting that you can turn on that will make your PC usage easier.

Some of the questions that are asked relate to;

• Eyesight
• Physical conditions
• Hearing
• Speech troubles
• Other disorders

If you want to start this feature just follow this;

• Open control panel
• Open ease of access
• Click Let Windows Suggest Settings
• It will then go through with you step by step

Recently Microsoft announced that they were going to spend $300 million on a new ad campaign for Windows staring Seinfeld. Here is a brief news story on the issue;

Some people may have criticized a few of Windows Vista’s new applications, but I can say for sure that this new one is very, very useful. The Windows Mobility Center is basically one centralized application that lets you edit some basic functions of your PC, these include;

• Brightness adjustment
• Sound adjustment / mute
• Battery level / power scheme selection
• Wireless network status
• Screen orientation (portrait or landscape)
• External displays
• Synchronization to other machines
• Presentation settings

In the past it could have taken quite some time to change all these setting on your PC, but by using the Windows Mobility Center you can edit them all in seconds. To access the Windows Mobility Center just;

• Open control panel
• Open Windows Mobility Center

or

• Press your windows button plus X on your keyboard

We are very green friendly in our office here and we are always looking at better ways to conserve energy and better manage the environment. Since almost everyone has a PC, we can all help out with a few little steps.

Today we will look at some options  for Windows Vista energy conservation - Remember, by being more efficient and using less energy, this not only benefits the environment, but it also ends up costing you less.

The Windows Vista OS does feature significant changes to its power management infrastructure, functionality and default settings. All of these changes affect how Vista PCs consume energy. Here is some further info on the potential energy savings available when using Windows Vista and the changes from XP.

PC Power Consumption

Here are some numbers on PC power consumption and the type of savings that can be made by using sleep vs idle modes.

Common power usage output for Desktop PCs (watts):

Calculating power savings:

In projecing the potential savings, a PC left on constantly was compared with a PC put in sleep mode during non-use hours. The non-use hours are calculated at approximately 14 hours per day. So if we also factor in weekends, the approximate non-user hours for the year is: 6,160 hours.

To calculate the saved poser, we use (idle power - sleep power) x 6160 hours = annual savings.

In the table below you can see the savings (kWh):

Financial Benefits

As you can see above, a considerable amount of kWh hours can be saved by using the Vista power functions. To put this into a financial value see the formula below (this is assuming an average cost per kWh of $0.094):

760.14 x 0.094 = $71.45

So there is an annual saving of $71.45 for just a single PC by employing the Vista energy saving features. If this is applied to every PC using Vista, the saving is absolutely enormous, especially for large corporations.

Environmental Benefit

Obviously as more energy is consumed this adds to increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. According to the EPA, generating 1kWh of power in the USA results in 1.55 lbs of carbon dioxide emissions. So a saving of 760 kWh for a single PC results in a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions of 1,178 lbs.

This is quite a significant saving and again, when implemented on every PC running Vista, there is a massive reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.

So if you are using Windows Vista, start using the power saving features. Not only will you save on costs, but you will be benefitting the environment.

In my last post I talked about the Vista Magnifier which can assist any sight impaired person to use their PC just that little bit easier.  Today I will talk about another good application in Vista, the on-screen keyboard.

The on-screen keyboard is essentially a keyboard that pops up onto your screen so you don’t have to use your normal keyboard, this can be handy if you are unable to use your physical keyboard for some reason or other.

To turn your on-screen keyboard on follow this;

• Open your control panel
• Click ease of access
• Click ease of access center
• Click start on-screen keyboard

If you want the on-screen keyboard to start every time you boot your computer just;

• In the ease of access center go to the explore all settings section
• Click use the computer without a mouse or keyboard
• Check Use On-Screen Keyboard
• Click save
• Done

This is a great new feature in Vista that can assist visually impaired people use their PC. The Vista magnifier allows people see close up images of their screen in a large block at the top of your PC, and zooms in on the area around your mouse cursor.

Windows magnifier actually has been around in various forms since Windows 98 but you will get a much easier to use version in Vista. Earlier versions allowed the user to magnify up to 9 times, but you can magnify up to 16x in Vista.

If you want to turn on Windows Magnifier follow this;

• Open control panel
• Click ease of access
• Click ease of access center
• Click start magnifier

Your screen should now become a bit shorter as the magnifier bar is introduced at the top of the page, you will also see a magnifier command box. In this command box you can change settings such as;

• Options
• Presentation - here you can alter the scale of the magnifier
• Tracking

When you shutdown your Vista run PC you believe it is shutting down right, well actually by default it actually goes into sleep mode and not shut down. You can easily change this setting so that everytime your computer shuts down, it does shut down.

To set your computer to shut down follow this;

• Press start and type in power options
• The power options box will pop up
• Select choose what the power buttons do
• You will now see a table with options for when you press the power button, when you press the sleep button and when I close the lid
• Go to the when I press the power button option and select shut down in both the drop downs (battery and plugged in)
• Click save changes

As you can see from this power settings page you can select other options for your liking regarding the power of your Vista run PC, have a go and work out what is good for you.