Tips For a Greener Computer

While the world is thriving, it can't be denied that our resources are getting depleted day by day. It is indispensable to preserve our resources. In the present times, sitting in front of computers incessantly for long periods of time has become inevitable. But this is harmful for you and your computer as well. A few possible changes can help you go a long way by diminishing the negative impacts on you, your computer and the environment. At the same time, these amendments will help you save money as well. Depending on the way you use or reuse your computer, environmental repercussions are bound to occur. There are seven main ways for a greener computer. Read on to find out what they are.

You can place your PC in the sleep mode for sometime if not in use, when the PC is left idle for a fixed amount of time like fifteen minutes or more. Using the Windows operating system, this mode can be set through 'Power Options' in the 'Control Panel', while using MAC it can be done through 'Energy Saver preferences'. In Windows, WinOFF is responsible for shutting down, restarting or hibernating the system after a certain amount of time, when it goes idle. There are nearly ten computing energy savers available. PCs normally take 2 to 3 seconds to wake up. In certain laptops of today, the mere closing of the lid will put the system to sleep.

The next way to save power is by turning off the system when it is not needed. For normal running, a laptop needs 30 watts whereas a flat panel system or traditional desktop requires 60 watts for its running. In sleep mode, the power consumption will be reduced by 5 watts. If you want your system to consume zero power, it needs to be shut down or put into hibernate state by using the Operating System menu. The difference is that the former requires one minute for recovery whereas the latter requires thirty seconds.

If you want your computer to consume less power while working, you can disconnect other peripherals such as the printer, speakers, scanner, router and backup drives unless they are needed. Because, these equipment consume a few watts even when they are idle but connected. It is passable to leave your cable modem connected, since it requires some time to provide Internet connection once turned off.

Incase your PC decelerates, you can think of extended memory to bump up the speed to some extent, before going in for a new one. Because, a small extended memory with reasonable price may give a lift to its life span. Make certain of the memory you have by going through the Control Panel in Windows and About This MAC in MAC operating systems and use a reliable memory configurator to check if the system is extendable to a gigabyte or more. This kind of upgradation saves you money.

Instead of having separate PCs for every member of your family, you can share the available one by creating separate accounts. In order to create separate accounts simply go to User Accounts in the Control Panel in Windows and Accounts Panel in MAC OS. You can easily toggle between the accounts by logging off instead of restarting the system. Always look for the Energy Star label when you buy a new PC. At all times, lower the brightness of the monitor to protect your eyes.