Creating a battery health report

I found that this command will generate an HTML file that will let you know the health of a battery:

for Windows 7:
powercfg -energy

for Windows 8 and 10:
powercfg /batteryreport

Both need to be run in an elevated command prompt.

You'll get an HTML report that may or may not be able to be opened from where it is stored.  When you open the file, if you scroll to near the bottom, you'll see an area labeled "Battery:Battery Information."  Here's what my "Battery:Battery Information" looks like on my 10 month old laptop:

Battery:Battery Information
Battery ID 1153SanyoDELL YDN874C
Manufacturer Sanyo
Serial Number 1153
Chemistry LiP
Long Term 1
Design Capacity 52592
Last Full Charge 51520


In this case, I see that the capacity of the battery is 52592, but its last *full* charge was only 51520.  So if I divide 51520 by 52592, I get 97.962% - so my battery is nearly 98% healthy.  This means my battery is in great health, whereas most older batteries will be much lower.

Credit for this information goes to these two locations:
http://www.helpwithwindows.com/Windows7/Check-your-laptop-battery-health-in-Windows-7.html
and
http://www.howtogeek.com/217010/how-to-generate-a-battery-health-report-on-windows-8-or-windows-10/

checklist for new laptop purchases - updated 4/23/15

This is my checklist when buying a new computer.  I've had some Dell reps not key in my information properly, which has caused problems - so I need to check over each order to make sure all I want is included.

Items to check:

1. Processor: Core i5 or better
2. RAM: 4 GB or more (as required)
3. Hard drive: 256 GB or more (SSD preferred for most laptops)
4. Webcam built in
5. Warranty as required (3 year with accidental damage protection preferred)
6. Docking station (if required)
7. Windows 7 Pro 64 bit
8. OEM software (Office or Adobe Acrobat as needed)
9. Dual band wireless card
10. Battery size as required (4 cell or larger)
11. Default display resolution as preferred

removing Dell battery message "Your battery is able to charge normally. However it is reaching the end of its usable life"

By design, Dell laptops will warn you as their battery life starts to decline.  When you log in, Windows will display this message "Your battery is able to charge normally. However it is reaching the end of its usable life"

My comment on this message is typically this:

---

All rechargeable batteries have a limited life span. It varies from battery to battery, but a battery typically loses 25% of its life per year (so a 2 year old battery lasts half as long as it did when it was new).

While it’s typical for a battery to last less long, it’s not so much of a problem unless the battery life no longer meets your needs. If you say the word, I’ll begin the process of requesting a new battery on your behalf.

---

I found this elegant way to remove the warning which seems to work on all E series Dell Latitude laptops.

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/p/19317355/20118960.aspx#20118960

In short, download and install the Dell Feature Enhancement pack:
64 bit version:
http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/driverdetails?driverid=MHVWP

32 bit version:
http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/bm/en/19/driverdetails?driverid=DV6XM

The follow these steps:

1. Copy all *.admx files in C:\Program Files\Dell\Feature Enhancement Pack\policydefinitions to C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions

2. Copy all *.adml files in C:\Program Files\Dell\Feature Enhancement Pack\policydefinitions\en_US to C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions\en-US

3. Run Group Policy Editor - Click Start button and in the Search box type gpedit.msc and click the result

4. Browse to Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System -> Dell -> Feature Enhancement Pack -> System Events and double click Battery in the right pane

5. Select Enable radio button and put a check mark for "Battery health degraded"

6. You can get rid of any other massages there as well

7. Click OK

Recycling IT components

As an environmentalist, I often run up against the problem of clients who want to dispose of things but don't want to pay to have them recycled or disposed of properly. Unfortunately, we're not at a point in this country where we have free electronics recycling, but there are some things that HAVE TO BE recycled. One example is rechargeable batteries. As an example, I have one client who has an old APC UPS. It's nonfunctional, but it has a 10 pound battery inside that cannot be thrown away. As of the last time I investigated this, I had to pay for APC to take back one of their batteries unless I wanted a replacement. As such, I did then what I'm doing today. I looked up local places that take recycled batteries. Here is the site:

http://earth911.org/

and here is the link to battery recycling:

http://www.earth911.org/master.asp?s=ls&serviceid=126