Hibernate or standby, or just tell it to go to sleep?

Your computer is capable of doing many calculations per second. It is also capable of going to sleep, if you let it. If you set your monitor to shut down when you are not using your system, it will use less power; the same is true for your hard disk drive (HDD).

Managing power on your computer

Using Power Options, you can reduce the power consumption of any number of your computer devices or of your entire system. You do this by choosing a power scheme, which is a collection of settings that manages the power usage of your computer.

The schemes include preset time settings that turn off computer components or put your computer in a low-power usage state. You can create your own power schemes or use the ones provided with Windows.

You can also adjust the individual settings in a power scheme. For example, depending on your hardware, you can:

• Turn off your monitor and hard disks automatically. Typically, you would do this for a short period to conserve power.
• Put the computer on standby. If you plan to be away from your computer for a while, you put your computer on standby.
• Put your computer in hibernation. You would do this when you’ll be away from the computer for an extended time or overnight. Hibernation turns your computer off, but when you restart the computer, all programs and documents that were open when you turned the computer off are restored on the desktop.

Depending on your hardware and the options you select, you can close the lid of your laptop, or press the power button or sleep button to make your computer standby or hibernate.

To resume computer operation if you've turned off your monitor or hard disks, move the mouse, or press any key on the keyboard. If you've put your computer on standby, move the mouse, press any key on the keyboard, or quickly press the power button on the computer. To resume computer operation from hibernation, quickly press the power button on the computer.

It takes longer to bring your computer out of hibernation than out of standby; however hibernation consumes less power than standby.

Note

• To use Power Options, your computer must be set up by the manufacturer to support these features. For more information, see your computer documentation.

Hibernate and standby (defined)

Imagine you're late for a meeting and are in the middle of updating a spreadsheet. Or you're touching up a photo and suddenly have to leave to pick up your children. Can you leave your computer and be confident that, when you return, everything will be just as you left it?

The answer is yes. But only if you are using Hibernate or standby, two features of Windows Millennium Edition.

Hibernate

Hibernate lets you turn off your computer so that when you restart it, everything is restored exactly as you left it, including unclosed programs and documents. There's no need to worry about shutting down quickly, and you also save power and wear and tear on your computer.

If you are interrupted often, you might also consider putting your computer into automatic hibernation after a specified number of minutes.

When you put your computer into Hibernate mode:

• Everything in memory is saved on the disk.
• The monitor and hard disk are turned off.
• The computer is turned off.

standby

standby is used mainly for conserving power, particularly battery power in laptop computers. It also gives you the benefit of getting right back to your work without waiting for the computer to restart. standby turns off your monitor and hard disks, placing your entire system in a low-power state. When you return to your computer, it quickly comes out of standby mode and your desktop is restored exactly as you left it. Please be aware though that, unlike Hibernate, standby does not store unsaved information on your hard disk; it's stored in the computer memory. If there is an interruption in power, information in memory is lost. so before putting your computer on standby, you should save your files.

When you put your computer into standby mode:

• The computer switches to a low power state.
• Devices such as the monitor and hard disks are turned off.
• Information in computer memory is not saved to the disk.

Tell it to go to sleep (soon):

The first step is to find the display properties. You can do so by opening control panel, then clicking display, or you can right mouse click a blank spot on the desktop then left click Properties. Once you have display properties in view, click on the screensaver Tab, then ignore the screen saver stuff (select none) and go on to the settings button. Click Fig. (1A. below) to see full size:

Click the Power scheme Tab and set it for your system preferences.

Next, click your time preference: 15 - 20 minutes should work. This will shut off your hard disk, and your monitor (if selected) after 20 minutes if no one is using the computer. If you come back and touch a key or the mouse, the monitor and HDD will wake back up.