Power Scheme Switcher basically offers to configure power modes for three conditions or states. An individual power mode can be set for each state so that the power modes are automatically switched when the system changes into another state.

Power Schemes for the following states can be configured:

• Plugged in: This state is activated when the computer is plugged in a power source.
• On battery: Activated when the PC is running on battery.
• When battery is less then: Defines a new state when the battery power drops to a specified percentage.

All configured power schemes are available for selection including custom plans created by the user of the system. Users need to make sure to check the enable automatic switching option so that power states are automatically switched.

Power Scheme Switcher will change states automatically once it has been configured properly. The program requires no user interaction at this point.

It is however possible to switch power schemes manually from the application’s system tray icon.

Power Scheme Switcher has only been tested under Windows 7 by the developer. It runs fine on 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the operating system. A download is offered at the project website over at Codeplex.

A user who needs to access the computer system quickly at work does not necessarily wants to use a energy saving power profile that shuts down the computer monitor, hard drives or even hibernates. The situation might be different at home for the same user where time is normally not a pressing matter.

Enter PowerSlave (via ShellCity), a PC power management software for the Windows XP and Windows Vista operating system. PowerSlave allows a user to create a day time and night time plan for the computer system. These two plans can be configured individually with power schemes that are taken directly from the operating system

The PC power management software can be configured to run any of the available power schemes in the configured time period which makes it dead easy to set different power plans for day and night use. The computer memory usage of PowerSlave is quite high. We have covered similar PC power management programs such as Edison, Notebook Hardware Control or Computer Energy Saving Tips.

The tools on the other hand are similar regardless of the motivation of the single user. A computer power management software like Edison can aid the user in the process. Edison basically allows a user to set power saving profiles for work and off-work hours on a computer system.

Three parameters can be defined for both work time and non-work time that have been taken directly from the Power Options of the Windows Control Panel

The user can define the time in minutes to turn off the display, power down the connected hard drives and to suspend the computer. Edison will display an estimated annual saving which is divided into money, energy and CO2. The problem with those figures is that they calculate the savings by taking the average PC usage per year into account. Users who work more or less will see different results as will users who work with a high-end computer system or low end system.

The figures can therefor only be seen as a guideline. It is possible to change the price per kWh but not the average work time per day which is rather unfortunate.

A slider is available on top that can be used to configure the program. Experienced users can also enter the values manually.

Edison is an interesting application as it visualizes the abstract power saving concept. It might make more sense for most users to simply adjust the power saving settings in the Control Panel.

Users who are serious about saving energy might want to invest money in an energy monitor that is connected between power source and computer. They might also be interested in the articles: Saving Energy With All Off, Create Video Card Profiles To Save Power And Reduce Noise and 80 Plus Power Supply Units.

One of the bet ways to save battery is by reducing the power of several core components such as the processor or graphic adapters.

Notebook Hardware Control is a free software program that has been designed to take care of the needs of notebook users. Power management is however only one – very extensive – option of the software.

The software comes preinstalled with several hardware profiles like max. battery, dynamic switching or battery optimized. These profiles can be easily set by right-clicking the icon in the System Tray.

The maximum battery setting can for example be used to use the notebook for as long as possible while dynamic switching ensures that battery life will be saved as long as the system does not need additional power.

It is also possible to customize those settings further by defining multipliers and voltage settings manually.

Next to that are similar options for the video card and hard disk. The hard disk settings go further by providing access to advanced power management and acoustic management settings. An Advanced Configuration and Power Interface system can be enabled as well.

Notebook Hardware Control is a software program that is compatible with 32-bit editions of Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista. It requires the Microsoft .net Framework 2.0 or higher.

Notebook users normally do not have a power button for the monitor and that’s probably the main application for the shortcut to turn off the monitor. It might also be useful for users with old huge CRT monitors that have the power switch on their back.

I have tried several programs that can be used to turn the monitor off on a system and only one was working perfectly on my Samsung 19″ LCD monitor. I tried NirCmd which worked fine during the first test but not in consecutive ones. The monitor turned off in the first test but all other tests had the result that the monitor turned automatically on again after pressing the shortcut.

It could be related to my system though. The application that did the trick for me is called Wizmo. It’s a small command line utility that provides a multitude of features, among them the option to turn off the monitor with a shortcut.

The command to turn off the monitor is wizmo.exe monoff. The easiest way to create the shortcut is to right-click wizmo.exe and to select Create Shortcut from the menu. Right-click the new shortcut afterwards and select Properties from that menu.

The Target parameter should contain the path to the executable on your system. Add -monoff after that path so that you get ..wizmo.exe -monoff

Now move the shortcut to your desktop or any other location that you want it to be. Double-click the shortcut to test it. The monitor should turn off. It takes a few seconds depending on the type of monitor that you have. My Samsung LCD monitor is seeking for connections on the other monitor ports for a while before the monitor is finally turned off.