Recommended Windows 7 Power Options On Laptops

The best Windows 7 Power Option settings for a laptop will all depends on the way a person uses their laptop, but as a general rule we like to use the "full performance" setting. You may run into a situation where a laptop is still on, and everything appears normal with it, however the wireless adapter is unable to pass any network traffic.

All you may need to do is disable the wireless adapter and re-enable it. If you have a situation where this is in a large building and you're between two access points there are some potential issues that could arise. One possibility could be, is either network changes made though the day such as DHCP adjustments, wireless configuration and/or switch changes such as configurations at the router, or in buildings or re-enabling ports had some effect on an individual laptop where the wireless adapter settings just needed it to be renewed. The other possibility is, particularly if you're between access points, the laptop may have a hard time "handing off" from one access point to the other, they may even have the same SSID name on both. Different manufacturers of wireless equipment could also be cause for a minor incompatibility. A reboot may fix it as well. Something else we always check is to see if the laptop is using the maximum Energy Savings settings in Power Options, this could also have shut off power to a wireless adapter. It's our recommendation that you set laptops to "full performance" in the Power Options control panel panel, this will prevent the wireless card from being shut off. Even with full performance settings in Windows 7, click on "change plan settings", and double-check the wireless adapter settings under "change advanced power settings" each time to be sure it isn't set to shut it off (set to to "never").