It is always best to leave your computer 'on' when you do have a power outlet and highspeed internet.. That way your computer can always stay up to date and maintained.. As for your battery, as with any device that uses a battery and with any battery, no matter what type, it can and will get a memory over time, and for that reason I say to just use your computer.. Whether you are using the battery or not.. However, as you have been doing, I also suggest unplugging it and just using it until it runs right down and tells you that you are running out.. Then go ahead and plug it back in.. Letting it get charged again... But unplugging the system, sure, you are protecting the life of the computer, and it's power supply but then what about the computer's overall usage? Typically restarting the computer is the hardest thing on it.. As with the power management features, of hibernation and standby which can be used quite easily for a laptop, there are a number of choices.
These are the kinds of things that I can set up very easily by simply connecting to your computer, as you need the change done.. Therefore if you know you are going to be using in a 'laptop' mode, then you can change it in the power management settings, but normally just leaving it by closing the lid at night is all I suggest.
From the control panel you will have POWER management settings and with Toshiba as well as many others now, such as DELL, they are creating their own power management software and will have its own controls found in the control panel.
Yes, if you simply press the power button on your computer, as I believe, I have it set to go in to 'HIBERNATION' when you do that.. Which means, it will start faster when you turn it back on because it is not completely rebooting.. The only problem with this becomes when you are unplugging the usb devices and you had the system in hibernation, it will not be able to 'reconnect' to a device that no longer exists, therefore you may get an error, or in your case, the computer freezing or 'hanging'. I say no worries... If at worst case scenario, realize that if you press AND HOLD the power button, after a few seconds the system will power down. This goes with any desktop computer as well. There is the 'soft off' which gives about a 4 second delay before shutting down, whereas just pressing it briefly can also invoke the 'shut down' command if the power management is set to hibernate when power is pressed, which is typically how I would set up a laptop.
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