Toggle Aero?

[Cat]

I've baught a notebook pc. It has T8300 CPU, and Intel GMA 3100
Graphics. The battery has for cells and it says its capacity is
2400mAh. With Windows Vista x64, I did some normal tasks such as
surfing the internet a little and some file copying, application
installing. But the big problem is the battery life. After fully
charged the battery, I could only use about 1 hour and half. I've
searched the internet and found that the main culprit is the Aero
interface. So, I guess, using Vista Basic when in battery mode, and
Aero when in A.C. mode would be more reasonable. Manually changing
between them in "Personalization -> Show classic..." is quite a task.
Is there any easier way? How do you save battery?

 

[Doug]

There is clearly a need for it. Is it perhaps a task that a Sidebar Gadget
could be written for?
Doug

 

[Marc]

http://forums.windowsvistamagazine.com/forums/7844/ShowThread.aspx

Command to Turn Aero ON: Rundll32 dwmApi #102

Command to Turn Aero OFF: Rundll32 dwmApi #104

Create two quick launch buttons for ON and OFF, assign them a decent icon
and hey presto.

Marc

 

[Marc]

Hi Cat,

This tutorial will show you how to add "Turn Aero On" and "Turn Aero
Off" to the context menu in Vista to make it easy for you to toggle
Windows Aero on and off.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/148257-context-menu-add-remove-turn-aero-off.html

Or if you don't want to sign up, goto
http://www.askvg.com/how-to-add-aero-on-off-shortcuts-in-desktop-and-my-computer-context-menu/

 

[Cat]

Thanks. But it doesn't turn on/off Aero, it turns on/off the
transparency of Aero.

 

[Marc]

These solutions only turn off transparency... the Window Composition is
still active (and so the graphics card will still be working hard)

So it might not help much at all

Marc

 

[Chirag]

Here is a small app quickly put together for it and uploaded:
http://www.herbisoft.com/products/aero_powersaver/

No UI, sits in the tray next to the clock and does its job.

- Chirag