Open Power Options in Control Panel and switch to the Power Schemes tab to adjust how quickly the computer goes into standby and powers off the monitor or hard disk - five minutes is a comfortable minimum. To change device settings such as your wireless adapter, click Start, select Run, type devmgmt.msc into the dialogue box and press Enter to open Device Manager. Double-click each device in turn and look for a Power Management or Advanced tab, where you can tweak power-saving settings to eke out more from the battery.