No battery-related problems found in Windows 7, says Microsoft

We reported last week on how some users have come forward complaining of battery issues after installing Windows 7. Suspicion has been initially cast on problems with firmware giving erroneous readings, prematurely triggering warning messages to replace laptop batteries. Or worse yet, that Windows 7 is somehow damaging batteries.

Well, Microsoft has investigated, and the software giant is now saying that there is no problem with Windows 7. Windows division President Steven Sinofsky has written the details in a blog posting earlier this week, noting that the battery warnings are in fact accurate.

Sinofsky wrote, "To the very best of the collective ecosystem knowledge, Windows 7 is correctly warning batteries that are in fact failing and Windows 7 is neither incorrectly reporting on battery status nor in any way whatsoever causing batteries to reach this state. In every case we have been able to identify the battery being reported on was in fact in need of recommended replacement."

And of course, both Windows XP and Windows Vista don't have the capability to check for battery degradation, and hence will never flash the "Consider replacing your battery" warning.

What many users are not aware of is that the lithium-ion batteries that we use are prone to degradation even without any use. In fact, the degradation starts the moment the battery leaves the factory. And yes, this means that the shrink-wrapped battery you got from that great warehouse sale could be a dud. In fact, this is precisely the reason why I recommend users to charge their lithium-ion batteries often.

For more on this story:
- check out this blog at MSDN Blogs
- check out this article at CNET News
- check out this article at Ars Technica 

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