Although it’s been around for many years, Windows XP is still in use by many computer users today, and just because it has been around for many years, doesn’t mean it doesn’t have the power-saving features you need to get more life out of your laptop battery. Here, we look at 5 tips for getting more laptop battery life in Windows XP.

1. Kill the Monitor

Your laptops monitor is one of the biggest power draws, so you want to minimize its impact on the laptop battery as much as possible. First, disable the screen saver and make sure Windows is set to turn off the monitor after a few minutes. How long you set this depends on your own use, but the lower you set it and the sooner it turns off, the longer your laptop battery will last.

2. Dim the Display

When running your system from the laptop or notebook batter, consider dimming the display as low as possible. Obviously, you need to see the screen clearly, but if you can stand to lower the brightness, your monitor will use less power and give you more laptop battery life.

3. Power down the Hard Drive

The hard drive is the second biggest power draw for a laptop, so you want it to run as little as possible. Set the system to power down the hard drive after a certain number of minutes to save power and extend your notebook battery life.

4. Standby and Hibernate

Standby mode powers down most of the computer’s components, but still allows the system to wake up quickly when you need it to. Hibernate stores all open programs and data to the hard drive and powers down the entire machine. This saves more power, but takes longer to resume. Set standby mode to kick in after about 10 minutes of no use, and hibernate after 20 or so.

Recharge When Possible

This may seem obvious, but sometimes the best way to get better battery life is simply to charge the battery more often. If you are somewhere with a power outlet available, use it. Also, consider buying an extra AC Adapter to make it easier to recharge your laptop battery at work or other places where you spend a lot of time.