IT Service Center

Want your computer to be fast and responsive? Want to avoid having your screen go blank when coming out of standby? Then follow these best practices to keep your Windows 7 tablet PC happy & healthy!

• Power on at LFCDS
• Quit open applications before sleeping
• Shut down before leaving LFCDS
• Shut down to charge up overnight

Power on at LFCDS

When you arrive at LFCDS, always power on your LFCDS tablet PC from the off state after verifying that your wireless radio switch is turned on. Unlike a home computer, your LFCDS tablet PC is configured to connect to a variety of network services only available while connected to the LFCDS internal network. Windows can become sluggish if it switches to or from LFCDS network services while powered on or in sleep or hibernate mode. In addition, starting up while at LFCDS will trigger Windows to synchronize offline files in the background, ensuring that all of the data in your My Documents/Home drive is backed up to LFCDS servers.

Quit open applications before sleeping

To prevent losing unsaved work and prevent slowdowns in getting back to work, quit out of open applications before putting your computer into sleep/standby mode. Sleep/standby mode turns off your tablet PC's screen, network connections, processor, and hard disk drive, while keeping the contents of memory powered to allow you to conserve battery while sleeping but still get back to work quickly without having to wait for the operating system to boot. Some programs, like Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Word, do not always respond well to sleep mode and can crash or slow down or hang up Windows, leading to data loss, lack of responsiveness, or other glitches.

Shut down before leaving LFCDS

Before you leave LFCDS, shut down your computer to save your settings back to LFCDS servers. Wait for your computer to shut down completely (power light off) before closing the lid to prevent shut down from being interrupted by the computer going to sleep. When you log off of your computer while connected to the LFCDS network, your Windows roaming profile containing your preferences are copied back to LFCDS servers. In addition, as noted earlier, Windows can become sluggish if it switches to or from LFCDS network services while powered on or in sleep or hibernate mode. Shutting down before leaving LFCDS is essential to keep your computer responsive and your settings backed up.

Shut down to charge up overnight

While you are asleep charging up for the next day of school, so should your tablet PC! Shut down your tablet PC (Start->Shutdown) and plug it in to its power adapter, verify that it is plugged into AC power and that the charging light comes on. While your computer will charge if left on or in standby mode, and it is fine to charge it while in sleep/standby during the day, it is best to shut your computer down at night and start it up again while at LFCDS for the reasons outlined above.