如果您最近购买了一台笔记本电脑，并且想要针对不同状态（例如插入(plugged in)或使用电池( on battery)）微调电源设置，那么我将解释Windows 7和Windows 8中可用的所有不同电源选项。两种操作系统都具有几乎相同的电源选项，因此我将使用Windows 7的屏幕截图来撰写本文。
要配置任何电源选项，您首先必须转到Start，然后是Control Panel，然后单击Power Options。在Windows 8.1中，只需右键单击新的开始按钮(Start Button)并从那里选择控制面板。(Control Panel)
现在您将进入主电源选项对话框(Power Options dialog)，该对话框将电源计划放在首位和中心位置。微软(Microsoft)已经从以前存在于Windows XP 和 Vista(Windows XP and Vista)中的电源方案真正简化了这一点。现在有两个主要的和第三个，它是隐藏的，但可以通过单击查看附加计划(View additional plans)按钮来查看。
默认情况下，Windows将设置为使用平衡(Balanced) 电源计划(power plan)。您可以更改它，但首先让我们看一下左侧的所有选项。
–唤醒时需要密码( Require a password on wakeup)– 这个非常不言自明，但有点令人困惑，因为它取决于您是否为您的用户帐户(user account)设置了密码。如果你这样做了，那么当你从sleep 或 hibernate(sleep or hibernate)回来时，你必须输入你的密码。如果您的用户帐户(user account)没有密码，那么在此处要求输入密码不会有任何影响，您仍然可以登录，因此值得注意。
–选择电源按钮的功能( Choose what the power buttons do)– 这会将您带到与上一个选项相同的屏幕，但它只是顶部。在这里，您可以选择当您按下电源或睡眠按钮或合上盖子时是否希望计算机进入睡眠或关机或什么都不做。(Shutdown or Do Nothing)当您使用电池和插入电源时，您可以选择不同的选项。
–选择合上盖子的作用(Choose what closing the lid does)– 不知道为什么会在这里，因为它为您带来了与上述相同的一组选项。
–创建电源计划(Create a power plan)– 如果您不喜欢三个默认电源(default power)计划，或者如果您想编辑这三个电源计划之一的默认设置，那么您可以在这里进行。要创建新计划，请为其命名并选择其中一个计划作为起点(starting point)。基本上(Basically)，您可以调整计算机显示屏(computer display)关闭和计算机进入睡眠状态的时间。
–选择何时关闭显示器– 当您单击当前所选(Choose when to turn off the display)电源计划(power plan)旁边的更改计划(Change plan)设置链接时，此链接将带您进入同一屏幕。我将在那里解释这些选项。
–更改计算机睡眠时间(Change when the computer sleep)–与上述链接相同的选项集。(Same set)下面会解释。
现在要实际查看您的电源设置，请继续并单击当前选择的电源计划(power plan)旁边的更改计划设置链接。(Change plan settings)
您可以更改的基本选项是显示器何时关闭以及计算机何时进入睡眠状态。对于平衡计划(Balanced plan)，默认设置如上所示。要编辑更多设置，请单击更改高级电源设置(Change advanced power settings)链接。
在这里，您几乎可以编辑与该电源计划(power plan)相关的所有设置。有些选项是不言自明的，但有些需要一点说明。
1. 在硬盘(Hard Disk)下，您会看到在设定的(set amount)电池和电源(battery and power)时间后关闭硬盘( Turn off hard disk after)的选项。请注意，这与您选择希望计算机进入睡眠状态的时间之前的屏幕不同。正如您在我的电源设置中看到的那样，硬盘驱动器将在 10/20 分钟时关闭，但计算机将分别在电池和电源的情况下(battery and power)sleep till 15/30分钟才进入睡眠状态。因此，首先驱动器将关闭，一段时间后，计算机将进入睡眠状态。
2. 在Wireless Adapter Settings下，确保为Pluged In选择了( Plugged In)Maximum Performance。
3. 如果您的Windows 7 出现无法睡眠 或保持睡眠状态的问题，请确保禁用电池和电源(battery and power)的唤醒计时器。
4.除非您真正了解技术方面，否则通常无需弄乱USB 设置(USB Settings)、PCI Express、处理器电源管理和多媒体设置等某些设置。(Processor Power Management and Multimedia Settings)
5. 在Battery下，您可以调整计算机在达到某些电池状态（如Critical、Low等）时发生的情况。您还可以根据需要调整这些电池状态的百分比。默认情况下，low 是 10 % battery剩余，critical 是 5%。当达到这些不同的状态时，您可以让计算机进入睡眠、休眠、关闭或不执行任何操作。
如果其他人更改了您的电源设置，而您只想将它们恢复为默认值，请继续并单击“恢复计划默认值”(Restore plan defaults)按钮。此外，请确保单击顶部的“更改当前不可用的设置”(Change settings that are currently unavailable)链接以查看所有电源选项，因为有些选项是隐藏的，因为它们需要管理员权限才能更改。就我而言，我没有看到任何新选项，但这取决于计算机。
希望这将为您提供有关电源选项在Windows 7和Windows 8中如何工作的足够信息，以便您可以在使用电池时最大限度地延长电池寿命(battery life)并在插入时减少电源使用量(power usage)。如果您对电源选项有任何疑问，请留下我们一条评论。享受！
Configure Power Options in Windows 7/8/8.1
If you recently purchased a laptop and want to fine tune your power settings for different stateѕ like plugged in or on battery, then I’ll explain all the different power options available in Windows 7 and Windows 8. Both operating systems have pretty much the same power options, so I’ll use screenshots of Windows 7 for the article.
To configure any of the power options, you first have to go to Start, then Control Panel, and then click on Power Options. In Windows 8.1, just right-click on the new Start Button and select Control Panel from there.
Now you’ll be brought to the main Power Options dialog, which put power plans front and center. Microsoft has really simplified this down from the previous power schemes that used to exist in Windows XP and Vista. Now there are two main ones and a third, which is hidden but can be viewed if you click the View additional plans button.
By default, Windows will be set to use the Balanced power plan. You can change that, but first let’s take a look at all the options along the left side.
– Require a password on wakeup – This one is pretty self-explanatory, but a little confusing because it depends on whether or not you have a password set for your user account. If you do, then when you come back from sleep or hibernate, you’ll have to enter your password. If you don’t have a password for your user account, then requiring a password here won’t make any difference and you’ll still be able to login, so that’s worth noting.
– Choose what the power buttons do – This brings you to the same screen as the previous option, but it’s just the top section. Here you can choose if you want the computer to Sleep or Shutdown or Do Nothing when you press the power or sleep buttons or close the lid. You can choose different options when you’re on battery and when you’re plugged in.
– Choose what closing the lid does – Not sure why this is here because it brings you to the same set of options as above.
– Create a power plan – If you don’t like the three default power plans or if you want to edit the default settings for one of those three power plans, then this is where you can do it. To create a new plan, give it a name and choose one of the plans as a starting point. Basically, you can adjust the timings for when the computer display turns off and when the computer goes to sleep.
– Choose when to turn off the display – This link will bring you to the same screen that you get to when you click the Change plan settings link next to the currently selected power plan. I’ll explain those options there.
– Change when the computer sleeps – Same set of options as the above link. Will explain below.
Now to actually see what your power settings are, go ahead and click on the Change plan settings link next to the power plan that is currently selected.
The basic options you can change are when the display turns off and when the computer goes to sleep. For the Balanced plan, the default settings are shown above. To edit more settings, click the Change advanced power settings link.
Here you can pretty much edit all the settings associated with that power plan. Some options are self-explanatory, but some need a little bit of clarification.
1. Under Hard Disk, you’ll see the option to Turn off hard disk after a set amount of time for battery and power. Note that this is different than the screen before where you chose the time when you wanted the computer to go to sleep. As you can see in my power settings, the hard drives will turn off at 10/20 minutes, but the computer won’t sleep till 15/30 minutes on battery and power respectively. So first the drives will turn off and after a little bit of time, the computer will then go to sleep.
2. Under Wireless Adapter Settings, make sure Maximum Performance is selected for Plugged In.
3. If you’re having issues with your Windows 7 not going to sleep or staying asleep, make sure you Disable wake timers for both battery and power.
4. There is normally no need to mess with certain settings like USB Settings, PCI Express, Processor Power Management and Multimedia Settings unless you really understand the technical aspects.
5. Under Battery, you can adjust what happens to your computer when it reaches certain battery states like Critical, Low, etc. You can also adjust the percentage for those battery states if you like. By default, low is 10% battery left and critical is 5%. You can have the computer go to sleep, hibernate, shut down or do nothing when these different states are reached.
If someone else changed your power settings and you just want to get them back to the default values go ahead and click on the Restore plan defaults button. Also, make sure to click the Change settings that are currently unavailable link at the top to see all power options because some are hidden as they require administrator privileges to change. In my case, I didn’t see any new options, but it depends on the computer.
Hopefully, this will give you enough info on how power options work in Windows 7 and Windows 8 so that you can maximize your battery life when on battery and reduce power usage when plugged in. If you have any question about the power options, leave us a comment. Enjoy!
