Vista Sleeps Tonight
What happened to Hibernate and Standby power options? I didn't even notice they were missing at first, because you often think about putting a computer to "sleep" as a verb. Actually, Vista introduces Sleep as a new power state that combines the quick resume time of Standby (which keeps memory active in the computer) with the data-protection offered by Hibernate (which stores a copy of memory to the hard drive in case of power loss).
When going to sleep, Sleep acts just like Standby by turning off most of the computer's components to minimize power usage while still keeping memory active so it can resume quickly. However, when the batter power runs los, Vista starts its Hibernate behavior and copes the active memory to the hard drive.
Most agree that Sleep is the best power-saving state to leave your PC when it is not in use. Of course, you may still need to do a real "Shut Down" if you need the power off for changing hardware or if you plan to leave it off for an extended time. But that is crazy-- why would you ever be away from your computer for an extended time? Laughable.
Another thing that I'm having a hard time getting used to is that when you choose a power option like sleep or shutdown it happens immediately. Of couse this is better, but I still find myself bringing my cursor up to the middle of the screen to confirm the action ;)
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Comments
I cannot seem to wake my Vista machine from sleep /hybernate. Can you help?
Posted by: Tom Bertagnolli | July 30, 2007 6:46 PM
If the escape key is not doing the trick you may be in trouble. If you have a USB keyboard/mouse I'd try unplugging them for a minute and plugging them back in. You might even try the same with the monitor-- in fact, one indicator I normally use to see if it is just my display that is not responding is to hit the caps lock or scroll lock keys on the keyboard and see if the coresponding lights come on the keyboard. If they don't I know it doesn't matter what is pressed on the keyboard and more drastic measures are required.
First try pressing the power button briefly. Still no go? Hold down the power button to force power off, wait a few seconds and then power on normally. When you get back up, see if you event log has anything to offer about what might have gone wrong.
Posted by: Bob Kelly | July 31, 2007 10:10 AM