By Nancy Walker

When you are out and about using your laptop without the benefit a nearby electrical outlet, getting as much as you can out of the life of your battery becomes critical. The problem is that the majority of laptop batteries last no more than around two hours. The reason for this is that most of the programs loaded on a modern laptop silently suck the life out of a battery. You may not be aware of this, but those programs you run are powered by your laptop's batteries. A good way of stopping the power drain on your batteries is to avoid the simultaneous usage of multiple applications when your computer isn't plugged into an outlet. The drain rate of your batteries can be reduced in a number of different ways. There is an easy process you can use to get additional time out of your laptop's batteries.

Today's portable computers are equipped with batteries that can only provide energy for a limited number of hours. By treating them well, your portable's battery can remain good for about two years. However, nearing the end of those two years, the battery isn't able to retain energy in the same way it did when it was new. To make your battery last longer, a few easy tips are available to allow you to do it yourself and not have to call in an expert.

Making you screen dimmer is an especially easy way to prolong the battery life of your laptop computer. This is done by using the secondary function keys to adjust the level of screen brightness on your laptop. You just press and hold the function key, while hitting the F key that displays a down arrow and a sun icon. You can also control the brightness of your screen by accessing your settings for saving power. If your laptop's operating system is Windows Vista, then you have the window on other settings that can be adjusted to extend your battery life. You can also save power by using "sleep" and "power off" settings.

Additional perpetrators that contribute to a dying battery are programs with high pixelation levels and advanced sound settings. Never use more than several of these programs at once, as all of the power you have stored will be used up more quickly than anticipated. Other sources that are responsible for draining your battery's life are the wi-fi networking devices. Even when there is no connection, your computer will keep using up its battery while looking for and finding available wireless networks. Shut your computer off if you don't need an Internet connection in the first place.

Ensure that every one of your removable storage drives have nothing in them. The DVD or CD drive could possibly contain the previous night's awful video disc you swore you'd never watch in the days to come. Remove your disc from the drive since it will drain your battery while in there, whether or not the computer is running. Different USB devices that you plug into the laptop will also drain your battery. Remove any of those devices once you have finished using them, as this will prevent your battery from being used up so quickly.

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