A lot fo the times our computer is on and we don’t even realise it.
It could be up and power with just the screen not displaying, could be a sleep or might just be listening on the network.
No matter what the state of your computer it is always good to use the right power mode or state of your computer to mirror for the way you use it.
This post will explain the different states your computer can be in and what each one does.
Sleep Mode
When you put your computer to sleep, it is not really asleep, not knowing what is happening.
Much like pausing a movie mid-way through, sleep mode is pretty much the same. Your computer will still be using power and the main reason to do this is to put your computer into a rest mode, but be able to start it up really quickly.
In effect not really starting it up, but un pausing it and continuing as you were.
Hybernation Mode
Not a whole lot different to sleep in appearance – putting your computer to hibernation mode actually turns your computer off, not using any power.
When you turn it back on it takes longer and it still resumes what you were doing .
It does this by saving the state of your computer and operating system to the hard drive rather than the RAM (Memory).
When you walke your computer you are actually booting it up again from start and it looks to the hard drive to start back up what you were doing before you entered hibernation mode.
How to wake your computer from Sleep or Hibernation Mode
Every computer is different. But for most a simple move of the mouth, type on the keyboard or a press of the start button will wake the computer or laptop back up.
How is ScreenSaver Different
When you see your computer is screen saver mode it is neither asleep or hibernating.
It is simply blocking the screen for anyone else to see.
You can change the you of screen saver you use, how long before it kicks in and if you need a password to stop it from running,
You can also customise your computer to go into a sleep mode after a certain amount of time of inactivity.
Turning Your Computer Off
Turning your computer off will just do that.
Unlike sleep and hibernation modes, when you turn your computer off YOU MUST save everything you are doing or you will loose it the next time your computer restarts.
As good practice every time I leave my computer I save my work, even if when I have hibernation and sleep mode enabled. Just incase something gores wrong!
