Power Save Mode is a computer setting that reduces power consumption and conserves battery capacity by shutting down hardware devices that have been idle for quite some time. When it is enabled, your computer goes into hibernation or standby mode when not in use. Disabling the Power Saving options on your computer prevents your computer from going to sleep during time-consuming tasks, such as backing-up a hard drive or converting a large media file to a different format.
Turning Off Power Saving on Windows Vista
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Step 1
Plug in your power adapter. Click "Start" on your computer screen and click "Control Panel."
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Step 2
Double-click the "Systems Management" link and click the "Power Options" link.
Step 3
Select "High Performance" under the power plan window. Click "OK" to save the changes. This will disable the automatic power-saving sleep mode.
Turning Off Power Saving on Windows XP
Step 1
Plug in your power adapter. Click "Start" on your computer screen and select "Control Panel."
Step 2
Double-click the "Power Options" icon. Click on the "Power Schemes" tab and select "Never" under "Turn off hard disks, System Standby, System Hibernates and Turn off monitor" That will prevent any of these devices from going into power save mode.
Step 3
Click the "Hibernate" tab and remove the check from the "Enable Hibernation" option. Click "OK" to save your changes.
Turning Off Power Saving on Macintosh OSX
Step 1
Plug in your power adapter. Select the "System Preferences" icon from the Dock (or double click on the icon in the Applications folder).
Step 2
Select the "Energy Saver" icon (looks like a lightbulb).
Step 3
If your system preferences are locked, click on the lock icon in the lower left-hand corner of the window and enter your password. Use the "Settings for" pull-down menu to select which power source you want to regulate, 'power adapter" or "battery."
Step 4
Slide the bars for "Put the computer to sleep ... " and/or "Put the display to sleep ... " all the way to the right (to "Never").
Step 5
Uncheck the box next to "Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible." Close the window to save your settings.