Windows 7 - Is APC PowerChute necessary with Win7?

I know Windows 7 does not have the UPS Utility that was available in earlier versions of Windows, but what are the limits (compared to PowerChute) if I use the Power Profile capability in Windows 7 for my USB connected SmartUPS 1000? I'd rather not have to install the APC software (Agent, Server, Console) if I don't have to, but if others can weigh in on whether that's really needed I'd appreciate it.

Hello Tony,

The answer is yes and no. It just depends on if you wanted to use the features specific to the UPS battery that are included in the PowerChute software or not.

When you do not have PowerChute installed, the advanced power plan settings included in Windows 7 does have settings that you could set for when the computer is running on battery power and when the computer is plugged in.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Thanks Brink. I read through all your advice and I think I can get by with the Power Profile Advanced features in Windows 7. The only things I'd be missing are the APC alert notification (email or text) if the power goes out, and the monitoring capabilities (power history etc). While those would be nice, I'm not sure it's worth the added bloatware.

PowerChute will place your computer into Hibernation if the battery in the UPS is about to be depleted due to utility power failure, thus saving any open documents, etc.

What "Not Myself" posted above would be the biggest advantage of having PowerChute installed. Windows 7 will not know how much time is left on the battery without PowerChute.

So if the APC is detected by Windows 7 and the driver installed, the OS still doesn't get any information reported to it by the UPS? If so, this is a very good point. If I decide to go with PowerChute, what should I do with the Advanced Battery settings under Power Profile? Set them all to Not Used or Never?

After you install PowerChute, the "Battery" options in your Advanced Power Plan settings will no longer be there. If you were to uninstall PowerChute in the future, the "Battery" options will return.

I fail to see how PowerChute can be considered bloatware if you are running an APC battery power supply....maybe if you don't run a backup power supply.

PowerChute personal is meant for controlling your apc power supply and monitoring both your house power as well as the backup power supply and it's health.

I have used it for many years and can't really say that I have ever seen a downside to the use of this product.....using the windows power settings is just trying to imitate what PowerChute is designed for and it is really just a pale substitue....can't really see any reason to go there. Do you also avoid using the print drivers for your printer if you can jury rig Windows to print or avoid Burner software just because Windows can do it....it seems that you are forgoing some of the benefits of third party software for some reason....why do it the hard way.

Bob, I try to run a relatively lightweight instance of Windows 7. Since I knew Win XP had an actual UPS utility (which I had used), I was hoping the capability in Windows 7 would be as useful. I found the utility in XP to be sufficient for my APC UPS. If Windows 7 has an embedded capability to do something well enough, then for me the tradeoff in using a manufacturer's software usually comes down to asking if I really need to do whatever else it does. Maybe "bloatware" was too strong a term, but I wasn't sure what to think when I saw three separate installations from a 100+ MB file to control a UPS (server, agent, console). Since it looked like the Advanced Power Profile Battery options had the ability to act on Low and Critical notifications, I was hoping that meant there was enough bidirectional communication so that Windows would be getting this info from the SmartUPS. I guess that was assuming too much.

And yes, I do now use WMP12 to burn disks. Not hard at all, reliable, and free. The days of using Nero have since passed in that department.

As one who is using Powerchute I've had no issues, it doesn't take up "space", isn't a burden. It just sits quietly and does what it does. As Brink said, you can just use the basics of your Power Plan Windows 7 provides if you don't want, or trust Powerchute. But as you'll see in my screenshot, Powerchute provides a host of info Windows 7's power plan wouldn't.

And I too fail to see where this is "bloatware" - unless you consider any software not associated with Windows to be bloatware - which would include such software as Office or other mainstream software like Adobe Flash, 3rd party browsers, etc.

Screenshot of the latest version (3.0.0.1).....



Info on the software - http://www.apcmedia.com/salestools/S...89HL_R0_EN.pdf

APC forum - APC Discussion Forums : UPS Management & PowerChute Software

Good luck.