Power Options for Windows

Most new computers come with their Power Options set to “balanced” which typically turns the computer, hard disk and sometimes the network card (NIC) off after a specified period of time. This results in a variety of issues with programs like Procare that rely on a steady connection to your main computer (server). Random freeze ups, lost connections, and time outs are common symptoms. Procare strongly advises choosing high performance settings and making sure options like “put computer to sleep” are set to “never”.

Check Your Main Computer First

The most crucial computer on which to check your power options is the main computer (server) on which your Procare database is installed. If it goes to sleep, all computers that connect to it will have issues. It’s also a good idea to double check these settings on secondary “client” computers, ones on which Procare is used, but the data resides elsewhere – including any computers used for checking in.

Changing Power Options in Windows

Although the following example is for Windows 7, the concept is similar for all versions of Windows.

1. Click Start > Control Panel.

2. Dbl-click Power Options.

3. Under “Show additional plans” click the down arrow to reveal more options.

4. First choose High Performance then click Change Plan Settings.

5. On the Change Setting screen:

   1. If this computer is used for children or staff to check in you’ll also want “Turn off the display” set to Never, otherwise it may be set to anything you like.
   2. Make sure “Put the computer to sleep” is set to Never.
   3. Click Change Advanced Power Settings.
   4. Click the plus sign (+) next to “Hard disk” then click the plus (+) next to “Turn off hard disk after”. Change the setting to zero or Never and click OK taking you back to the Change Settings screen.
   5. Click Save Changes and close Power Options returning to the Control Panel.

6. Back at the Control Panel screen open Device Manager.

7. At the Device Manager:

   1. Click the tiny arrow next to Network Adapters to expand that section.
   2. You may have more than one Network Adapter. Dbl-click the first one on the list to open the Properties screen.

8. On the Properties screen:

   1. Click the Power Management tab (top right).

   2. Uncheck the box that says “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power” then click OK.

9. Repeat for any other network adapters.

10. Close the Device Manager and Control Panel.

11. Reboot your computer.