When you’re not using your PC it’s wasting energy if it’s left on. But sometimes you want to leave it on because you have a lot of work in progress and you want to save your screen just as it is, ready for when you get back. For example, you’re working on something and suddenly you remember you’ve got a meeting. You don’t want to or don’t have time to save everything, close everything and shut down your computer. Plus it’s a hassle having to start it back up and load everything as it was before.
Please note: this article is written for XP users.
The good news is you can save energy without having to go through this annoying process by using your PC’s ‘Stand by’ and ‘Hibernate’ features — and everyone in the office should be doing this – because it’s so easy and doesn’t waste any time.
Stand By – for quick meetings, cigarette breaks and other short breaks
When you put your computer into Stand by mode everything you’re working on remains as it is on your desktop, but your computer switches to a low power state.
To use Stand by click the start menu (green button, bottom left), select ‘Shut Down’. Choose the ‘Stand by’ option and click OK. When you return to your computer just move the mouse like you would to turn off a screen saver. Your computer will return to the state it was in when you left it. If moving your mouse doesn’t work, try hitting Enter.
Stand by is ideal for short breaks from the computer but for longer breaks you should use Hibernate.
Update: one thing I forgot to mention…
If you don’t want to have to log back in after leaving Stand By mode do this — right click on the Desktop, open the Properties menu. Select the ‘Screen Saver’ tab. Uncheck the ‘On resume, password protect’ check box. This will make your computer resume its normal state after ending Stand by mode, without you having to re-enter your password.
Hibernate – for longer breaks of an hour or more
On most XP based PC’s it’s easy to use the Hibernate function – it’s the same as Stand by but you select Hibernate instead of Stand By in the Shut Down menu. If you don’t have a drop down menu in the Shut Down window do this: click Start, and then click Turn off computer. Now press and hold the Shift key. The label under the first button changes from Stand By to Hibernate. Click Hibernate.
Hibernating will tell your computer to save everything you’re currently working on to the hard drive. When you return to your computer use the power button to take it out of Hibernate. It will take about 20 seconds on most machines to turn back on and all your work will be as you left it.
Quick tip
If you want to be really rapid when leaving your PC for a quick break, press ‘control S’ to save your work, then hit the Windows button on your keyboard, then the top and left direction keys together, then hit Enter. Now, if you’ve already got Stand by selected in the drop down hit Enter. If not, use the direction keys to find it and hit Enter. You should be able to do this in about 3 seconds (when you get used it you’ll get it down to under a second) so no one has any excuses (late to meetings or not) for not using power saving stand by features.
Mac Users and users of other operating systems
If you’re using a Mac please use the comments form below to let us know what you have to do to save energy. Or alternatively you could become a contributor and write an article about power saving on a Mac, yourself.
Please use the comments form below if you have any questions or are having any problems using these features.
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