STEP TWO (Setting It Up to Sleep Automatically)

Apple has set up your PowerBook/iBook to automatically go to sleep if there's no activity for 15 minutes. This means if you haven't moved/clicked the mouse, pressed a key on the keyboard, etc. in the past 15 minutes, your computer figures you must be doing something else, so to save battery power, it goes to sleep. Apple chooses 15 minutes, but you can adjust that amount (you can even set it so it doesn't go to sleep at all, which is helpful if you're doing slide show presentations or watching a DVD movie). You do this by first going under the Apple menu and choosing System Preferences. When the System Preferences dialog appears, click on the Energy Saver icon (it's in the center). When the Energy Saver options appear, the Sleep preferences are displayed. At the top of the window, there's a pop-up menu called "Settings For." Click on the menu and choose Battery. Below that, where it says "Put the computer to sleep when it is inactive for," there's a slider (and it's likely set to 15 minutes). For a longer duration, drag the slider to the right. If you don't want it to sleep at all, drag it all the way to the right (to Never). Now click on the small red button in the top-left corner of the window to close System Preferences.

WHEN YOUR COMPUTER IS PLUGGED INTO AN OUTLET

TIP If you want to choose different settings for when your PowerBook/iBook is plugged into a power outlet (and not running on battery power), go to the Settings For pop-up menu at the top of the Energy Saver window and choose Power Adapter. Now you can drag the slider to select a separate time for that power option (since you're not running down your battery, you can select a longer duration).