Thus, some would advise you to turn it off at night, along with your computer. However, this is not necessary, just an extra precaution, as a good firewall, especially one that's hardware-based, should protect you. Another factor is if you turn your computer off at night.
For those using Mi phones, you might as well be using Mi PC Suite to manage your phone from a computer using a USB cable. But lately, Mi PC Suite doesn't seems to be working for most people. There are a lot of threads in the Mi Forums as well complaining about issues with Mi PC Suite. While the Mi Phone is connected to computer using USB, when Mi PC Suite is opened, we get messages like:
1) Device not detected2) You need to update your device to use Mi PC Suite
3) Can't connect to your device.
In this post, let's see the problems with Mi PC Suite and the status of this issue. If Mi PC Suite still does not work after the following troubleshooting steps, some compatible PC Suite softwares are listed at the end of this post that you can use to manage your Android Phone on computer. For this particular post, the system details of the Mi Phone, computer and Mi PC Suite are as follows.
System details:
- Computer OS: Windows 10, Windows 7 (both 64 bit)
- Mi PC Suite Version: 2.2.07032 (latest available on the Mi Website Updated 03.07.2015) and 3.2.1.3111 (updated after installing 2.2.07032 from Mi PC Suite itself)
(The puzzle starts here why the version is lower on the website and can be updated to 3.2.1) - Phone One: Redmi Note 3 - MIUI Version: Stable 8.1.1.0 (MHOMIDI)
- Phone Two: Redmi 2 Prime - MIUI Version: Stable 8.1.3.0 (LHJMIDI)
Actions done before connecting the Mi Phones to USB:
1) Enabled USB debugging
How to enable Developer Options and USB debugging on Mi Phones?
- On the phone, Go to Settings / Settings> About Phone / About Phone> tap MIUI Version seven times.
- And now Developer Options is enabled or active.
- Go back to settings
- Under System & Device, tap on 'Additional Settings'
- Find 'Developer Options'
- Enable Developer Options if not already enabled
- Scroll and find 'USB Debugging' and enable it
2) USB Connections mode tried: MTP (transfer files) and PTP (transfer photos)
Even after enabling USB debugging and trying both USB connection options (MTP & PTP), both the Mi phones listed above are not able to connect to the Mi PC Suite.
Some weird messages when connecting to Mi PC Suite via USB:
When Redmi 2 Prime (MIUI Version: Stable 8.1.3.0 (LHJMIDI) ) was connected to the Mi PC Suite (version 2.2.07032), the Redmi 2 Phone was detected.
But ironically, when any of the menu options such as File Explorer, Apps, Gallery etc. were clicked, the message 'The version of MIUI you're using is too old'.
When checking for system updates, there are no new updates. The MIUI version is already up-to-date!
On the Redmi Note 3, the phone is not detected and the following message is displayed - You need to update your device to use Mi PC Suite'.
Please note that there are issues with Mi PC Suite and Mi has still not provided a working PC Suite as on the date of posting this article (4 Jan 2017) as confirmed from one of Mi Forum Thread below. They are still working on it!
If you were able to solve the Mi PC Suite USB connections issue, kindly let us know in the comments below. Share the knowledge!
Alternatives:
If you are facing problems with Mi PC Suite and it is not usable, there you may continue to manage the phone for tasks such as file transfer using the computer Explorer. For this, you would need to connect the phone to the computer using a USB cable. Select appropriate USB settings such as MTP, PTP etc. MTP stands for “Media Transfer Protocol.” When Android uses this protocol, it appears to the computer as a “media device.” MTP operates at the file level and the Android device doesn’t expose its entire storage device to Windows like earlier USB connection type 'USB Mass Storage'.
Or if you need PC Suite to manage your Android phone, there are several free desktop Android phone managers / PC Suite that you can use to easily manage your Android phone from your desktop computer. Using these you can backup your phone, manage SMS, manage contacts, transfer multimedia etc.
Four FREE Android Phone Manager / PC Suite for Android Mobile Phones
Explore these free Android phone managers and I am sure any of these should fulfill your requirement.
Let me know in the comments what alternative you are using for Mi Phones.
Flickr/<a href='http://www.flickr.com/photos/deerwooduk/682390157/sizes/z/in/photostream/' target='_blank'>dougwoods</a>
Phew! You’ve made it through another day at the office. You’re just about to don your coat and head out into the evening—but your computer’s still on. Should you turn it off, or leave it in “sleep” mode? Some say it’s better to shut down, since that way it won’t be using any power while you’re not around. But others say that the process of shutting down and starting up again uses more power than letting your machine sleep. Who’s right?
First things first: Turning your computer off, then on again does not use more power than leaving it on in “sleep” mode. “That’s a myth,” says Bruce Nordman, an energy efficiency researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Another myth: Turning your computer on and off is bad for the machine. “In order to do any real damage, you’d have to turn it on and off far more frequently than anyone would ever want to,” says Nordman. That said, trying to remember to shut down your machine every night isn’t necessarily the most effective energy-savings strategy. Here’s why.
Fifteen years ago, when computer manufacturers first experimented with sleep mode (it used to be called “standby”), the energy savings weren’t very dramatic. Today things are different: According to energy efficiency expert Michael Bluejay, while in use, the average laptop requires 15-60 watts, while desktops use 65-250 watts, plus an additional 15-70 for the monitor. In sleep mode, however, most laptops use a measly two watts, and desktops with monitors use 5-10 watts, says Nordman. (“Hibernate” modes on some computers use even less energy—for a good rundown on the difference between various power management modes, check out Michael Bluejay’s guide.) Because sleep settings use so little energy, Nordman believes that it isn’t really worth making a big production out of remembering to shut down your computer every day: “Much more important to make sure that your computer is set to go into power-saving mode after a certain period of idle time.”
The EPA’s Energy Star program agrees with Nordman—sort of. Using power-management settings (like sleep mode) is the best way to reduce your energy use, says Katharine Kaplan, who leads the EPA team that develops Energy Star requirements. Nevertheless, Energy Star still recommends unplugging computers—and most other electronics—at night. “If it were just computers, leaving them in sleep mode wouldn’t be a problem,” says Kaplan. “But people have so many devices these days that it really starts to add up.” When you do shut down devices, cautions Kaplan, be sure to unplug them completely, lest they become energy vampires. One solution: Smart Strips allow you to plug in several devices, with one designated as a “master.” When the master is turned off, the other devices shut down, too. (Just be careful not to accidentally turn something off that other machines in your house depend on, such as the WiFi.)
One last tip: Skip the screensaver. “Screensavers actually use more energy than a static image, since they require the computer to do calculations,” says Nordman. And they don’t even save your screen: Back in the days of the flying toasters, screensavers prolonged the life of your monitor, but that technology isn’t applicable to newer screens.
The bottom line: Before you obsess over unplugging your computer every night, first make sure your computer is set to go into a power-saving mode after a short amount of idle time. (The EPA recommends 15 minutes for your monitor and 30 minutes for your computer.) Then, if you remember to unplug at night, give yourself an extra pat on the back.
Thanks to the computer gurus at TechSoup for helping me research this post.
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Correction: An earlier version of this article described computer energy use in terms of “watts per hour,” when it should be simply “watts.” We regret the error.