•• Multimedia settings. These controls have little to do with electricity, and everything to do with not ruining your big PowerPoint pitch. They let you specify that the computer should not sleep if you’re in the middle of playing a song, movie, or PowerPoint deck. •• Battery. “Critical battery action” dictates what the laptop should do when the battery’s all out: hibernate, sleep, or shut down. The other settings here let you govern when Windows’s two low-battery warnings appear (that is, at what percentageremaining levels). Some of these options also appear in the task pane at the left side of the Power Options control panel, for your convenience. They affect whatever plan is currently selected. In any case, click OK to close the “Advanced settings” box. Click “Save changes” to immortalize your newly created power plan. From now on, you can choose its name from the Battery icon on the system tray (if you have a laptop), or switch to it right in the control panel (if you have a desktop). Tip: To delete a plan you’ve created, open the Power Options control panel; click “Change plan settings,” and then click “Delete this plan.”
Programs and Features Programs and Features is about managing the software you have installed, managing updates, and buying software online. It replaces the old Add/Remove Programs program. (“Add” was dropped from the name because it was unnecessary; all programs these days come with their own installer. When was the last time you installed a program through Add/Remove Programs?) This window is useful for fixing (which might simply mean reinstalling), changing, or uninstalling existing programs, and it’s the only place you can go to turn on (or off) Windows features like Fax and Scan, Games, Meeting Space, and more.
Recovery The new Recovery icon is nothing more than a quick-access button for triggering a System Restore, as described on page 695. It saves you a few steps when you want to rewind your PC back to an earlier, better-behaved state.
Region and Language Windows can accommodate any conceivable arrangement of date, currency, and number formats; comes with fonts for dozens of Asian languages; lets you remap your keyboard to type non-English symbols of every ilk; and so on. The revamped Regional and Language Options allow you to install multiple input language kits on your computer and switch between them when the mood strikes. The key term here is default input language; the language for the operating system doesn’t change. If you installed Windows 7 in English, you still see the menus and dialog boxes in English.