New version of Aerofoil the Vista Battery Life Saver

I've just released a new version of my (free) Vista battery saver application "Aerofoil"

The aim of the software was always to be the most efficient and smallest application of its type - it still is, and unlike the others it is now written in pure C++ (i.e. does not required the .Net Framework).

Aerofoil helps extend your Vista Notebook battery life by:
* Allowing you to manually disable Aero Glass
* Optionally managing Aero Glass user interface depending on the computer power mode
* Optionally managing the best two Vista power plans depending on the computer power mode
* Optionally managing Windows Vista Sidebar depending on the computer power mode
* Providing an optional quick hibernate shutdown option - since power management is optimised in Vista
* Running on startup with your machine, putting a small configuration icon in your system tray (the little icons at the bottom right)

You can get it at Silent Development

 

Looks good, thx!

 

How different is this from this Vista Battery Saver >> http://www.codeplex.com/vistabattery

*just asking, because this too seems to be able to do much the same thing*

 

Taken from the Silent Development site;

 

Thanks for that...

But, by how much?

The one I am using now, from codeplex, has been good enough ever since I got this system n Vista and not taking up too much memory or whatever.. and in any case, with the systems these days coming with 3 or 4 GB mem average, what diff does it make? *just curious to see if there is any major life changing reason for this software being better than others*

 

Turning off Aero to save battery life is a waste, anyway. Battery life gains only yield a 4-5% increase in runtime; why sacrifice that for Vista's pleasing interface?

 

Well, thats true @ BOG

When I said I use this vista thing, I forgot to mention that I have the aero to be turned off when battery is at 25%... for whatever gains we get.. till then anyways its at full aero performance.

one use I see with this vista battery changer thing is when switching between ac and battery mode.. when I have to move my laptop to some place without power, then its nice for me.. I have two profiles which is changed with the codeplex application when on batter n when plugged in.. anyway..

 

It's around 3 to 4.5 times smaller - memory fluctuates by 2-3 megs on most apps (e.g. opening windows etc), Aerofoil is usually around 7 megs, VBS is about 22 (from my brief usage). See screenshot below - the working set is the value you want, peak is just when it is doing something intensive.

The reason for Aerofoil not allowing you to choose the power plans (i.e. just high perf and battery saver) is because some hardware manufacturers, e.g. one example, nvidia, used to (still do?) underclock their cards when in this preset mode - which can be identified on any machine by a set "GUID" - a specific ID number. I've modified my power saver mode to my liking rather than create a new one which would have a different GUID and not have the possible driver benefits. By not supporting custom modes it also saves on size of application (intention is to stay simple and fast).

Incidentally the more code running the more CPU and thus battery used, although I have to agree, this isn't going to be noticeable and just applies to geeks like me who just want any sort of justification for minimal and optimal software

I'm not saying you should change btw, I'm just pointing out there's a new release and if you think the benefits are worth it, go for it.

 

That's actually incorrect. The extra 5% compounds every 20min period. ie- you get back 5% of whatever amount you started with. If your keep the aero interface off during to total duration of you battery, you will gain around 15-20% more time.

 

What? Five percent compounded every 20min; that doesn't make any sense at all.

Sources:

http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2007/05/14/aero-and-battery-life.aspx

http://www.ditii.com/2007/06/01/windows-vista-aero-and-battery-life/

 

My fan runs a lot less to cool down the GPU when I disable aero but maybe the fans are solar powered and don't draw power from the battery

 

Nah the GPU fan is powered by the thermonuclear reactor in the laptop (that's why they get so hot), the nasty radiation is also known to cause fertility problems....

 

Hey all,

I've tried installing Vista Battery Saver several times, and when the progress bar gets to around 95%, it just stops. I see that the VBS icon is in the system tray, but the install never completes. Also, I have to go into Task Manager to end the install program. Until I reboot the computer, I can use VBS just fine, but after a reboot, the program is deleted.

I understand that you need to be running the install as an admin, but it appears that I already am. Can anyone suggest a fix?

Thanks.

 

Bump for any ideas. I have no problems installing ANY other programs on my computer, but this one will not install completely.