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Windows 7 is better than Vista in so many ways, but it's actually a lot worse in some others. Take, for example, choosing power plans from the system tray.
In Windows Vista, you could click on the battery meter and choose between the 3 plans: High Performance, Balanced, and Power Saver.
Now, for some idiotic reason, Microsft decided to limit our choices to only TWO plans from the system tray: your current plan + Balanced (if balanced is selected I believe it defaults to Power Saver for the 2nd one). To change it to the 3rd one I have to actually click on "More Power Options" and then select the plan.
Microsoft is requiring you to take extra steps for doing something that was easier before. I thought Windows 7's mantra was "do things faster" (i.e. Jumplists, Aero Peek, Accelerators, etc.) Who was the moron who made this decision, and how can I get my Vista-style Power tray back?
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
Um maybe if you read my original post (or if use Windows 7 itself), Balanced is ALWAYS shown, even if it wasn't your 'old' plan. So you can't flip-flop between Power Saver and High Performance, which is what I want.
What if I deleted the Balanced power plan? Is there a way to delete the default plans?
Yes, there is a way.
FlyoutAutoPowerScheme: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc749282(WS.10).aspx
Rating posts helps other usersMark L. Ferguson MS-MVP
So, as I understand it, we have to re-install our Windows7 boxes from scratch to change such an small setting? It's not like I have 20 PCs that all run on batteries, and I certainly wouldn't need to install Win7 unattended on them, even if I did. I do thank you for the information and help you have provided.
Download details Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK).url
Search the help for 'answer file'
Understanding **Answer** **Files**
Walkthrough: Build an **Answer** **File** for BIOS-Based Computers
Rating posts helps other usersMark L. Ferguson MS-MVP
is there an RTM WAIK available for 7 yet?
So what do I do with that? Edit the Registry? Use powercfg?
You were saying someone should do something. I thought I would show you what you can do. You could install the AIK and use utilities to make an 'answer file' and modify the power icon flyout with XML code shown there. Running setup with the answer file would install all the default options you chose. Default behavior is not that. If it were that much in demand, I imagine you could make a tidy sum selling the answer file.
Rating posts helps other usersMark L. Ferguson MS-MVP
