standby

Even though your computer is still working, you might not want, or need, to be there while it finishes up the job at hand. PC Sleep is a simple tool that lets you shut down your computer at a specific time or within a specific time frame, so you can set it and walk away.

Installing PC Sleep requires a Dot Net Framework, but the process is simple. While it offers eye-friendly and mouse-friendly features, the small interface is designed to do the job as quickly and efficiently as possible in two basic steps: choosing the action you want to … Read more

Putting a system to sleep is far more convenient than shutting it down between uses, because it allows you to save the machine's running state, to quickly pick up from where you left off without having to load the OS and programs again. While sleeping is usually a fairly quick process, sometimes problems can occur that cause it to take a long time or even hang. In these cases, even if you close a laptop's screen the system will stay running, and will then either just continue to run normally or not respond to any user input.

Unfortunately, … Read more

The European Union is sponsoring a multimillion-dollar research project to boost the efficiency of everyday electronics and choke the constant flow of wasted energy from their chips.

The three-year effort, called Project Steeper, promises to result in gadgets that operate 10 times longer on a battery charge and don't lose energy to standby--or vampire--power, researchers say. Although there are many different ways to improve efficiency in computing, the focus of this work is on the basic building block of all electronics, the transistor.

Everything from TVs to cell phone chargers draws a small current even when they are not … Read more

Belkin on Tuesday is introducing a handful of gadgets designed to cut off the flow off of wasted electricity from electronic devices and to give consumers more data on home energy use.

The peripherals maker filled out its existing Conserve product line with a handheld power meter, timer, charging station, and power strip--all of which are meant to give consumers ways to lower power use at home.

The Conserve Valet is a charging spot for up to four mobile devices that cuts power to zero when electronics are fully charged. It's meant to address the reality that even when … Read more

As useful as information found on the Internet can be, at times, it's also frustratingly myopic, resulting in moments when you have to take matters into your own hands.

Recently, my fiancee pleaded with me to start turning my PlayStation 3 off when it's not in use. Since the red standby light was on, she contended, the unit must be drawing significantly more power than if the unit was simply switched off via the power switch on the back.

Having just tested a couple dozen monitors as part of a CNET power consumption project, I felt I knew a bit about this and explained to her that the difference between standby and off was minuscule at best and that the savings for a whole year would be less than five bucks at the most.

She remained adamant, and since I couldn't prove my point outright at that moment--and didn't feel like an argument--I let her win and said I'd start switching it off.

Unfortunately for her, I sometimes see compromising as losing--and I hate to lose.

So the next day I pursued the matter, as standby was too important to me to just give up on. Having your PS3 in standby lets you turn it on from the controller. The laziness in me couldn't let this slide, so I told my fiancee I'd prove that when the PS3 is on standby it draws, at the most, only slightly more power than when it's off. … Read more

The standby and hibernate modes in Microsoft's Windows XP and the sleep mode in Vista are meant to be great time-savers. But too often a sleeping PC wakes up on its own--or doesn't awaken when you want it to.

The latter problem is particularly common with Vista, which is proving itself to be pretty worthless, even as Windows versions go.

The first time I set one of my XP systems to standby, it sprung to life each night, showing a message that my network was detected. The problem disappeared after I entered the machine's BIOS (press the … Read more

No two jobs are alike, but one thing millions of us have in common is the daily wait for Windows to get going. Why can't our PCs start as quickly as our radios, TVs, and other electronic devices?

Well, the instant-on PC isn't likely to arrive anytime soon, but you can get your workday rolling without having to stare down that annoying Windows logo. The simplest solution is to set Windows' Power Options to send your system into XP's standby or Vista's sleep mode after it has been idle for a while. Then you can simply … Read more