See all 3 power plans on system tray

Anonymous
2009-10-01T03:29:27+00:00

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?

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Anonymous
2009-10-03T17:27:31+00:00

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

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  1. Anonymous
    2010-08-02T07:04:01+00:00

    Yet another vote here for "just fix it already"

    Why do people not want to add third party software or registry fixes? 1. Because it's so stupid to need additional fixes to correct a problem that shouldn't be a problem at all, it should be able to work out that you don't want a jumplist that includes something you have never EVER used, you want the last 2 things you used so you can toggle between them and 2. Because have you read a license and support agreement lately? It's pretty much along the lines of "if you download a third party fix and it messes up your computer in ways that you couldn't possibly have foreseen then you are 100% on your own, Schmuko, and your fix is to reinstall your computer and put it back to how it was, including putting back the problem.

    Are Microsoft trying to score environmental points, pretending they are "encouraging" people to save power. Do they  try to force desktop users to use half their machine also?

    Another great example of "Windows can do all sorts of great things but if you choose any of them except the one we already chose for you then don't expect your computer to work"

    If there are this many people actively complaining, and the usual customer service rule that for every person who complains an additional huge number will be unhappy but didn't complain out loud then there are large numbers of people upset about this. You wouldn't affect all the people out there who supposedly like the "balanced" option if you put in a fix that the user can specify how many power plans to keep in the tray icon, or that it will toggle between the 2 most recently used. People who like "balanced" would still get it, people who don't can see the back of it at last.

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  2. Anonymous
    2010-07-23T18:02:26+00:00

    What a bunch of idiots. People who came up with this "idea" as well as those who implemented it. Stuff like this is why  get angry at Windows. I can't wait to afford an Apple computer.

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  3. Anonymous
    2010-07-03T13:14:42+00:00

    I had this need to limit CPU to 90%, so that my lap or the table doesn't catch fire.

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  4. Anonymous
    2010-07-02T03:47:40+00:00

    I know this sound silly, but can anyone clarify whether this is true or not please? Thanks.

    Yes, it is. Look in advanced settings for power plans, there are "minimum processor state" and "maximum processor state". In my power saver plan, maximum processor state is set to 50%. That means, my processor only works 50% from its maximum clock. My CPU is Core2Duo 2 GHz, thus in power saver is 1 GHz.

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