Comments : 1

Calibrate Laptop Battery

Posted by Vishal Vasu | Posted on 27-08-2011

Category : General

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It’s time for that important presentation. You open your laptop which is in Sleep Mode only to find that the laptop battery that lasted for 6 to 7 hours when you bought it now survives only for an hour or more. You have no choice but to run for finding an external power source.

Today, all portable computers use Lithium Ion batteries instead of the old style Nickel Cadmium ones. Advantage – these batteries are able to hold a greater charge as well as they are light weight – very important factors for laptops. Batteries come in different variations like 6-Cell, 9-Cell, 12-Cell, etc. Each cell has a defined capacity to store the charge and also each battery (comprising of these cells) has a limited number of charge cycles. A charge cycle is nothing but a full charge to discharge and then a full charge cycle. Since each battery pack has limited charge cycles, over a period of time, the battery wears out thus giving less battery time.

All laptop users face this problem. I did too on my HP DV6 as I saw the battery drain out in less then an hour after a full charge. The next thought in my mind was to get the battery replaced by a new buy which would cost $$$. But then my geeky mind cranked up and I decided to give Battery Calibration a try.

PC batteries expose information about battery capacity and health through the system firmware (or BIOS). The firmware provides information on the battery including manufacturer, serial number, design capacity and last full charge capacity. This allows the Operating System to know the exact amount of energy stored. However, due to the charging and discharging cycles, this sensor tends to be inaccurate overtime. An inaccurate gauge can lead to the fact that the the battery capacity values are wrong. So, how do we correct this? Perform a battery calibration. Before proceding to the steps, I recommend downloading a utility like Battery Care (http://www.batterycare.net) and installing the same. After installation, note down the wear level, the battery time, etc. This would help for comparing the results after calibration.

NOTE: Even if a battery pack is heavily used, it should not be necessary to calibrate it more than once a month. It is not necessary to calibrate a new laptop battery pack before first use. Calibrate only when you see that the battery is reporting the right capacity and you need to reset the guage.

Follow these steps to calibrate the battery

  • Step 1: Fully charge the battery to its maximum capacity, i.e. 100% level
  • Step 2: Let the battery “rest” fully charged for 2 hours or more in order to cool down from the charging process. You may use the computer normally within this period
  • Step 3: Unplug the power cord and set the computer to hibernate automatically at the minimum percentage possible. You can change this in your Power Plan options under the advanced settings option. Look for the “Battery” option and set the Critical Battery settings.
  • Step 4: Leave the computer discharging non-stop until it hibernates itself. You may use the computer normally within this period
  • Step 5: When the computer shuts down completely, let it stay in the hibernation state for 5 hours or even more
  • Step 6: Plug the computer to external power to perform a full charge non-stop until its maximum capacity (100%). You may use the computer normally within this period.

When I started with the calibration of my laptop battery, the wear level reported was 52.00% and the laptop used to shutdown even when the battery icon showed 30% of charge left. After running the calibration, the wear level reported is 37% and I’m not getting unexpected shutdowns anymore.

Comments : 0

Why Outsource Customer Support and Server Administration?

Posted by Vishal Vasu | Posted on 22-03-2011

Category : General, Microsoft Windows Server

Tags: , , , ,

The bulk of IT budgets is spent just “treading water” rather than adding new business value. The current economic climate and resulting pressure on IT budgets has made the task of just treading water, that much more difficult, while the need to add real business value to compete in difficult market conditions is even greater. The idea to Outsource Customer Support and Server Administration can help your IT department flip that equation, so that you can reduce costs on core workloads and realign IT resources to help your business compete in challenging market conditions. More than ever, you need to free up those “up and running” resources to help your company compete through IT! Consider the graphic below:

There are “good” and “bad” pressures on IT. The green arrows represent the good pressure: pressure to add new business value by increasing productivity, driving customer connections, etc. The red arrows represent the “bad” pressures: the necessary, day-to-day pressures that require lots of time, resources, and effort to address but that don’t necessarily push the business ahead. It’s these pressures that consume 80 percent of most IT budgets today, according to analysts; that’s a lot of investment spent on “standing still” when you’d rather be spending resources that add new business value and take the business further.

As companies grow, their IT infrastructures grow along with them. But more often, the pace of that growth is uneven, driven as much by the conditions under which the infrastructures operate as by the models they aspire to. You add an application here. You add functionality there. You add people across the board. Yet the more variables you add to your infrastructure, the harder it can be to manage and, more importantly, to keep secure.

So even as the costs for hardware and software are going down, the costs of managing and supporting your infrastructure are increasing. In today’s competitive times, outsourcing non-core activities makes a lot of business and economic sense. Organizations are realizing that they can’t provide each and every service to their clients. As a result, they are focusing more on their core competencies and relying on service providers to manage critical but non-core processes for them. Offshore technical support can no longer be treated as a peripheral process. It requires a experienced and dedicated support team who will work around the clock to deliver higher value to customers.

In addition to this, there are many more reasons why a company should consider outsourcing. Some of the reasons are outlined below:

  • Because you need to focus more on core business activities
  • Because you don’t have the time to do it yourself
  • Because you want to avoid the cost of new technology
  • Because you want to reduce your present operating costs
  • Because you want to reduce capital costs of infrastructure
  • Because you want to make the best use of competitive resources available worldwide
  • Because you don’t have the skills to do it yourself
  • Because you want to maximize customer satisfaction
  • Because you want to benefit from the provider’s expertise in solving problems for a number of clients with similar requirements

In today’s globalized and networked economy, outsourcing has never been so easy or made so much business sense. The question is not “Why outsource?” but rather, “Why not?”.

Comments : 1

Microsoft Windows InTune

Posted by Vishal Vasu | Posted on 07-02-2011

Category : General, Microsoft Windows Server

Tags: , ,

Microsoft recently announced the beta availability of a new cloud-based subscription-based remote infrastructure management solution for mid-sized businesses called InTune. Microsoft Intune allows admins to manage computers from any location instead of forcing them to be at their own console, and it’s not just an enterprise-scale application, either. Windows Intune simplifies how businesses manage and secure PCs using Windows cloud services and Windows 7—making it easier for IT staff to manage and secure PCs from virtually anywhere.

For instance, Intune highlights the ability to manage updates released by Microsoft, as well as block malware using Microsoft’s Malware Protection Engine. The buck does not stop there. It also enables technical support personnel in an organization to monitor PCs and provide remote desktop support for their users. Additionally, Intune also includes tools for tracking hardware and software inventory, including the ability to monitor assets, licenses, and compliance. It also has remote management tools like remote desktop initiated by the client through the Intune service could be very helpful for consultants and corporate IT when a remote user calls with an email problem.

From the first looks of it, the interface seems to be good which is built in Silverlight. Going to give this beta a try and see how it goes.

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