Microsoft has teamed up with the energy-conservation gurus at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at the University of California to create an eight-page white paper on how Microsoft's Vista operating system can help save energy.

The paper not only describes the financial and environmental benefits of taking a few minutes to set the power-management options on your PC so that it goes to sleep when it's not in use, but also explores Vista's power-management features compared to Windows XP, both over a network and on an individual desktop.

• Learn more about power-management options on PCs in general.
• Find TechSoup’s recommendation on specific sleep settings.