Vista and thinkpad battery drainage.

[ryengineer]

Saw this, thought could be worth sharing. I could not decide between posting here or off topic section, but had to use this area since the news was somewhat Vista related on lenovo thinkpads.

Vista Battery Problems and Microsoft Security Updates

By Barry Levine
May 4, 2007 3:05PM

Microsoft's Vista has several features intended to improve power management capabilities in laptop batteries, but at least two leading manufacturers -- Hewlett-Packard and Lenovo -- are implementing their own. There had been reports of battery issues with Vista during its beta testing, but Microsoft had indicated those were resolved.

Several computer manufacturers have reportedly indicated that Vista, Microsoft 's newest operating system, is consuming more battery power in laptop computers than anticipated. Since laptop users want to be able to use their PCs as long as possible without being tethered to an electrical outlet, the added drain that Vista puts on battery power can be a definite disadvantage for them.
Two leading computer manufacturers, Hewlett-Packard and Lenovo, have reported that they are implementing their own battery-saving, custom power-management settings to compensate for the drain caused by the Aero Glass interface in the Home Premium edition of Vista. For its part, Microsoft has said that it encourages PC makers to customize default power profiles for maximum efficiency.

Cool but Costly?

Aero Glass offers such interface delights as transparent windows and, when the user moves between applications, animated transitions. The snazzy interface has received kudos for its appearance, but it may be a bit too much for some laptops to handle efficiently. When Aero is turned off, the battery life is apparently no worse than under the previous Windows operating system, XP.

Vista has several features intended to improve power management capabilities. These include more intelligent hibernation modes and simpler ways to choose power management options. There had been reports of battery issues with Vista during its beta testing, but Microsoft had indicated those were resolved.

While Vista might be having problems with notebook battery issues, it still is Microsoft's most secure operating system to date.

Upcoming Security Bulletins

Microsoft announced yesterday that it will release seven security bulletins on Tuesday of next week, covering Windows, Office, Exchange, CAPICOM, and BizTalk. The company indicated that there will be an update posted for a recent DNS issue that potentially affects its entire server line.

The highest Maximum Severity rating for each of the bulletins is Critical, and all will be detectable using the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer. The bulletin relating to CAPICOM and BizTalk may also be detected using the Enterprise Scan Tool. Additionally, Microsoft is scheduled to release an updated version of the Windows Malicious Software Removal tool.

A Domain Name System (DNS) zero-day bug had been found that could expose vulnerabilities throughout Microsoft's entire server line. There are indications that Microsoft will also include a DNS patch in the Tuesday round.

'Update We've Been Working On'

Christopher Budd, writing yesterday on the Microsoft Security Response Center blog, said that he wanted to follow-up on a posting he made April 27th, and "let everyone know that we haven't seen any new information around attacks against the issue we discussed in Microsoft Security Advisory 935964." He also indicated that the listing of updates slated for May 8th does include the update Microsoft had been working on for this issue.

In that posting, Advisory 935964, Budd had written that his team had "not seen any new developments in the DNS situation."

"With the ongoing development and testing work from our teams on the issue," he had written, "we are increasingly confident that we will have an update of appropriate quality for broad distribution in time for the May 8, 2007 monthly bulletin release."

[Kyocera]

Good article, funny how they only mention "home premium" and aero causing a drain.

compensate for the drain caused by the Aero Glass interface in the Home Premium edition of Vista.

[/quote]

[tomtomtom]

it is an inevitable fact...vista is such a resource hog, with aero, it just makes matter worse

[itzcoolz]

do you know if the "features that Lenovo are implementing" is referring to the thinkvantage power manager, or is it referring to something that they have not released yet?

because... i have been underwhelmed with Lenovo's Power Manager in that it really doesn't add any significant (power-saving) features over Windows's own.

the only thing I think it adds is the ability to choose the threshholds for when to charge the battery. i wish they added an option to turn aero off when running on battery.

[zaimek]

do you know if the "features that Lenovo are implementing" is referring to the thinkvantage power manager, or is it referring to something that they have not released yet?

because... i have been underwhelmed with Lenovo's Power Manager in that it really doesn't add any significant (power-saving) features over Windows's own.

the only thing I think it adds is the ability to choose the threshholds for when to charge the battery. i wish they added an option to turn aero off when running on battery.

Well that would be usefull. I find myself constantly switching back and forth between vista basic and areo, areo is such pleasant an experience.
In last update to Power Manager Lenovo included "Battery Stretch" but I don't know if it is working with anything other than Santa Rosa. It surely doesn't give me the option on my x60t to "stretch my battery".