Penny Arcade Forums› Games and Technology› Moe's Stupid Technology Tavern
As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/
Options

Lightweight "Your battery's going to die" application

Michael HMichael H Registered User regular
edited June 2010 in Moe's Stupid Technology Tavern
I'm visiting my mom and performing my regular tech-support duties. She has an H-P ginormo laptop running Vista.

Right now she and my dad are saying that the little warning for "your battery's about to die" is not big/noticeable enough, and then the computer dies while my dad's playing Bookworm.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a small, lightweight application that brings up a can't-miss "PLUG IN YOUR COMPUTER" warning?

Michael
Robots Will Be Our Superiors (Blog)
http://michaelhermes.com
Michael H on

Posts

  • Options
    ImpersonatorImpersonator Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    If he's playing it fullscreen then the warning won't show up.

    Impersonator on
  • Options
    Mmmm... Cocks...Mmmm... Cocks... Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Impersonator wrote: »
    If he's playing it fullscreen then the warning won't show up.
    Surely there is another way, like playing a loud sound file.
    Almost something like a text message ring tone perhaps.

    Mmmm... Cocks... on
  • Options
    Michael HMichael H Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    It's not always for Bookworm (which he does, incidentally, play full screen). Even if it was just an alert while they were in normal Windows that would be helpful.

    Michael H on
    Michael
    Robots Will Be Our Superiors (Blog)
    http://michaelhermes.com
  • Options
    bigwahbigwah Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Windows does display an alert, several, that you are getting low on batter power.

    bigwah on
    LoL Tribunal:
    "Was cursing, in broken english at his team, and at our team. made fun of dead family members and mentioned he had sex with a dog."
    "Hope he dies tbh but a ban would do."
  • Options
    Michael HMichael H Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    You are correct, however they are obviously not large/obvious enough for my parents. I'm looking for something that says HEY LOOK YOUR COMPUTER'S ABOUT TO DIE, possibly with flashing lights, sound effects, and maybe a big picture of a battery with a frowny face.

    Michael H on
    Michael
    Robots Will Be Our Superiors (Blog)
    http://michaelhermes.com
  • Options
    ButtcleftButtcleft Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    If your dad is playing games on his laptop why dosnt he just plug it in while he's playing.

    Buttcleft on
  • Options
    PirusuPirusu Pierce Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Instead of arguing about why your parents are running out of battery, or what they should do instead (since I know that doing tech support for family is hard enough as it is)

    http://www.technixupdate.com/get-low-battery-alert-with-laptop-battery-monitoring-for-vista-and-xp/

    try that? I can't speak to whether or not it works, or whether it's legit or not, but it's something. Pop-Up + Audible Alerts.

    Pirusu on
  • Options
    Michael HMichael H Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Pirusu wrote: »
    Instead of arguing about why your parents are running out of battery, or what they should do instead (since I know that doing tech support for family is hard enough as it is)

    http://www.technixupdate.com/get-low-battery-alert-with-laptop-battery-monitoring-for-vista-and-xp/

    try that? I can't speak to whether or not it works, or whether it's legit or not, but it's something. Pop-Up + Audible Alerts.

    I will check it out. Regardless of how well it works, thank you for actually answering my question, too. :)

    Michael H on
    Michael
    Robots Will Be Our Superiors (Blog)
    http://michaelhermes.com
  • Options
    TincheTinche No dog food for Victor tonight. Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    If you just want an audio warning see this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-compaq-voodoo-pc/158781-low-battery-audio-warning.html.

    Apparently you can set it in Control Panel -> Sound -> Sounds tab -> Critical Battery Alarm. Don't have access to a Windows lappy to confirm.

    Tinche on
    We're marooned on a small island, in an endless sea,
    Confined to a tiny spit of sand, unable to escape,
    But tonight, it's heavy stuff.
  • Options
    TincheTinche No dog food for Victor tonight. Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Oh hey, if you want ultimate control over this kind of thing, you could always make an Autohotkey script that'll run in the system tray and check the battery level every 5 minutes, and if it's under say 10 percept, do whatever you like.

    This would be kinda similar to an AHK script I made for my Dad's computer, which check the list of running applications after 10 minutes of mouse / keyboard inactivity, and terminates any process running from a \Games\* folder (he forgets to shut down his games when he leaves, and that keeps the computer from sleeping). Autohotkey rocks.

    Tinche on
    We're marooned on a small island, in an endless sea,
    Confined to a tiny spit of sand, unable to escape,
    But tonight, it's heavy stuff.
Sign In or Register to comment.
Penny Arcade Forums› Games and Technology› Moe's Stupid Technology Tavern