Newsletter Archives

• How to preserve your battery charge on a Windows 11 laptop

  Posted on April 15, 2024 at 02:45 CDT by Lance Whitney • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.16 • 2024-04-15

  Look for our BONUS issue on Monday, April 22!

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Lance Whitney

  Frustrated because your Windows laptop runs out of juice at the worst possible times? There are ways to better sustain your battery charge.

  One of the best laptops I ever owned was a Lenovo ThinkPad T460 back in 2016. One major reason why I liked this machine was its dual-battery setup. Packed with both an internal battery and an external swappable battery, this unit easily delivered a solid 12 hours of life on a single charge.

  Sadly, those days are gone. With Lenovo and most other laptop makers obsessed with making machines as thin and light as possible, battery life has suffered dramatically. With my current laptop, I’m lucky to get five hours of life on a single charge. That’s fine if I’m at home or in a place where I can plug the computer into AC. But if I’m in one spot for hours, with no handy electrical outlet, then my battery charge can easily run out.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.16.0, 2024-04-15).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Windows 11 Battery charging, Battery life, Battery management, Control Panel, Newsletters, Power, Windows 11

• A VPN dissenter speaks out

  Posted on August 23, 2021 at 02:44 CDT by Fred Langa • Comment in the Forums

  LANGALIST

  

  By Fred Langa

  A reader strongly disagrees with Fred’s recent recommendation about using virtual private networks (VPNs) to increase online security; that reader’s colorful letter leads off this column.

  Today’s second reader-requested topic covers battery-monitoring apps for PCs and smartphones, including the extensive (but hidden) battery health report that’s built into every copy of Windows 10.

  The third reader-requested topic looks at daisy-chaining charging devices — say, charging your phone from your laptop while the laptop itself is charging from a wall socket.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.32.0 (2021-08-23).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, LangaList AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Battery charging, Battery management, LangaList, VPN

• Office updates fail … and fail, and fail

  Posted on January 6, 2020 at 01:10 CST by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  LANGALIST

  By Fred Langa

  Hard-to-remove “stealth DLLs” and other leftover components of a previous software installation can break Windows Update.

  Here’s how to completely remove those errant bits, breaking the never-ending cycle of never-succeeding updates.

  Plus: A reader seeks fully hands-off automation for applying the “80/20 battery charge” rule.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.1.0 (2020-01-06).

  LangaList Application uninstalls, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Battery management, Registry cleaners, Windows reset