- Jodie L. from Mid-City asks: "Why does my laptop battery take over 30 minutes to go from 100% to 90% and then suddenly drop from 90% to 10%?"
ANSWERED JULY 15: Experts say Windows' ability to gauge remaining battery life depends on a number of factors, ranging from the information provided by the system BIOS to whether the applet has had the opportunity to sync with the battery's different states of charge. Your battery could also have a problem, such as a bad cell, especially if it's more than two years old. If your battery has a built-in status indicator, compare it to what Windows is reporting. If your notebook came with a battery monitoring utility, use it. The information is probably more accurate. If the discharge rate from 90% - 10% was once gradual, you might want to have your computer checked by a technician. If it's always dropped suddenly like it does now, I wouldn't be overly concerned. For more information, see "Conserving Battery Power" on Microsoft.com
- Bert S. from Metairie writes: "Windows System Restore has saved my bacon several times, going back to when it first came out in Windows Millennium Edition. Recently, I heard you should disable it to combat virus attacks. Is this true!?"
ANSWERED JULY 15: Some threats use System Restore to automatically reinstall themselves if removal is attempted. Disabling System Restore, however, isn't necessarily a good strategy, because it provides a safety net when you install software or make other system changes. For a detailed explanation of how antivirus software and Windows System Restore work together, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article KB831829. See also Bug Busting: Getting Rid of Spyware, by Microsoft MVP Sandi Hardmeier. For instructions on how to disable and re-enable System Restore in Windows XP, including Guided Help, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article KB310405.
