One of the first things I always change on a new Windows installation is the Power settings. I've never liked having my display turned of or computer put to sleep after a brief period of time. Windows by default will tend to turn the display off after about 10 minutes. In Windows 7, instead of just simply changing the times period before your computer turns of it's monitors or goes to sleep, Microsoft uses different "Power plans."
Windows 7 has a couple of built-in, "Preferred" Plans, plus an additional Power Saver plan that is hidden by default. You can find this "hidden" power plan, the "High performance" plan, by clicking on the little arrow to the right of Show additional plans.
If none of these plans fits your needs, you can easily create your own custom power plan.
Go to Start > Control Panel > Hardware and Sound and click on Power Options.
On the left panel, select Create a power plan.
Now, you'll create a new power plan. To do so, you will select a power plan to copy or "mirror," and then edit it to your liking. Which one you choose really doesn't matter because you can edit the settings to your liking regardless of which plan you choose. You will also need to give your plan a name. Windows will choose one for you by default that you can change if you'd like. Click "Next."
Now you're ready to customize your settings. Select your Turn off the display and Put the Computer to sleep options, and then click Create.
Now you have your new power plan set as your default. You can create as many plans as you feel you need and can always resort to one of the built in Windows plans later.
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