How To Create A Energy Efficient Computer
Wanting to make your computer faster without buying a new computer? Well there are several things you can do.
The first thing and best thing is to upgrade your memory. Before buying new memory check what kind of memory is in your computer/laptop so you don’t buy the wrong memory and also check your computers manual to see what the maximum size of memory your computer can handle. If you are unsure what memory you need try asking a someone that knows about computers or try a local computer shop. There are many places you can buy memory from places like local dealers to hundreds of online places like tigerdirect and newegg or E-bay.
Next you should get the latest patches, drivers, security updates from Microsoft or if you own a mac make sure that you run software update. Also make sure that you download other drivers that were not downloaded by Microsoft or Macintosh that you may need which can be downloaded directly from the manufactures web page. Next you should remove programs that you rarely use or never use by accessing add/remove programs by going to Start>Control Panel>Add or Remove Programs and also you should remove any unwanted files that are taking up unnecessary space. Next thing after downloading updates and removing unwanted items is to defrag your computer. If you have never defraged your computer in a long time it could take a few hours depending on your system and hard drive size. To accessing Defrag click Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Disk Defragmenter and choose the drive you want to defrag.
Next monitor should have the brightness on your monitor turned down all the way or down enough so you can still read what is on your monitor. If you are still using a CRT monitor you should go out and buy a Energy Star flat panel monitor and properly dispose of your CRT monitor at a nearby recycling program that takes CRT monitors (some places will take your CRT monitor for a small fee).
Also make sure that your computer is plugged into a outlet strip and make sure that you turn off the switch when not using the computer and turn it on when you do use your computer (Your computer still uses power when not turned on). Lastly if you use window 2000, XP or Vista your computer should be able to use hibernation. Hibernation makes your start up time drop dramatically and extends the hard drive life span. For more information on how to configure this XP users, Win 2000 users. For windows vista it should be already enabled by default (I’m unsure about hibernation in vista since I have never used vista).
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What do Food and Climate Change have in common? Well if you look at this Cars=13% of all carbon emissions and Livestock=18% of all carbon emissions eating less meat or even going Vegetarian/Vegan is better than switching to a hybrid car and even better if you go vegan and own a hybrid!
About 5 months ago I went Vegan and have loved every last bit of it and I feel great being a vegan so I decided to create this post since it is "Green".
Recycling your Computer(s) by Charles on January 30th, 2008
Looking forward or wanting to get rid of one of your old computers? There are several ways you can do go get rid of your old computer(s) First you should know that everything electronic contains harmful chemicals and materials that can be recycled like glass, plastic, gold, copper, aluminum.
Labels are confusing and can be misleading... by Charles on January 1st, 2008
A few days a go I had found a article in Good Housekeeping which talked about what are these fancy names we put on products in the store like "natural" and "no CFC's" and what they really mean to the consumer.
2 Responses to “How To Create A Energy Efficient Computer”
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Charles,
Great post - as a former Marion resident, it was cool to see a blog from Marion - who woulda thunk it?
These are great recommendations for saving power - they say if people would only turn off their PC when they leave the office that the reduction in carbon emissions and power consumption would be incredible.
Perhaps when carbon taxing becomes an issue IT managers will finally force down power control settings across the grid to ensure their company isn’t ‘taxed’ to death overnight every single day.
While I’m buying my parts to upgrade my computers and re-use old parts in external enclosures and the like, I tend to use CompUSA. Since they have relaunched their website they have a ton more stuff than they used to - and I’m also a fan of Tiger too.
Once again - great post!
Make sure your drive is defragmented. Lots of file fragmentation means more work for the drive i.e. unnecessary movements of the read/write head and higher power consumption. Especially true for laptops. Also, when you choose a defragmenter, choose one that is automatic and can defrag in the background while you work, utilizing only unused system resources to defrag. Unlike with manual/scheduled defragmentation, on auto defrag, the PC does not need to be left on overnight solely for defragging. This saves power. When you multiply the power savings from one computer with the hundreds or thousands in an office, the benefit will be quite substantial.
Also, use CPUs with low power consumption and intelligent power/speed management. It can cut down on unnecessary heat generation from the CPU as well as power consumption.