Is Standby worth it?

I regularly use SystemStandby in XP whenleaving for less than 8 hours. Is there any advantage other than boot time?

I do shutdown and later restart regularly just to get the system back on track in case it needs it. I don't know if it does but I figure it is a good idea.

 

I can think of only one real advantage from using Standby - if it logs you off and if you use password protection, it could keep others from seeing your files when you get called away unexpectedly. I think it's harmless at worst and could be worth using for some people. I must confess, I don't use it however.

Along that same line, it's probably worth allowing for disabling the monitor if you go off for extended periods without shutting the system down. I consider that harmless too. I don't do that either.

To go one step farther, I would not recommend using Hibernation since it has been known to cause data loss problems not to mention that it takes up some disk space. That's a different animal than simple Standby since it disables the entire system and shuts down completely. It saves your settings so that Windows will open just as you left it.

Edit: I double checked to see if Hibernate worked as I had described. It did but a funny thing happened - my mouse driver was corrupted when I booted back up so I had to reboot to get it functioning again. Go figure. I repeat my previous recommendation for Hibernate - I don't recommend using it.

 

Surferdude:

Am I correct in understanding that Standby saves no power except to the monitor (LCD, so miniscule)? The HD does not stop spinning and power does not go down to a minimum?

I stopped using Hibernate because it was not dependable but I thought the standby was close.

 

This link is probably the best explanation you'll get:

http://www.theeldergeek.com/HT0_008.htm

 

I've never run into any problems with Hibernation my system or any that I've worked on. There was a MS Hibernation patch pre-SP1 I think, so it must have been a big enough problem for MS to pay attention.

The drive space that it takes up is IMO a non-issue in this large HD era. It may be an issue with drive imaging, but then so is the System Volume Information file and log files and so on and so on.

Regards - Charles

 

Just turn the monitor off!

My desktop LCD monitor gets turned off when I leave for more than a few minutes. Never use hybernate, standby or screensaver on this desktop; only those with CRTs. Laptops are another story.

 

Lots of smart folks approaching hibernation/standby/monitor powerdown/etc. in very different ways and we all keep running. I'm guessing this is pretty much a non-issue except for user comfort.

My desktop stays on 7x24 except the monitor goes dark after an hour. No particular reason except that it suits me. Laptop at work is in a docking station so no battery issues. It gets turned off when I leave work. Again, no reason except that it suits me.

 

Guess what, a funny thing happened on the way to checking what I posted earlier. I turned Hibernate on (never use it otherwise) and allowed it to shut down my system. When I turned the beast back on (you have to do that with the power switch since Hibernate kills the whole sheebang) the system loaded up Windows but my mouse driver was corrupt. I had to reboot to correct it. That bears out what I had previously discovered and I remain a non-user of Hibernate in fear of what it may do next.

To those who run Hibernate without any problems, my hat is off to you.

I may actually try Standby just to give it another chance. I'm not sure that it ever dumped on me and it would be nice to not have to go through the long reload every time. Time will tell if my temerity is justified.

 

I work for a California State agency of about 1000 users. We performed extensive testing of Standby and Hibernate to try to find the most economical setup for our PCs. Both of these modes turn off the hard drive. In many cases, the drives refused to restart. We had to reboot. We decided to NOT use either of them.
However, I believe some motherboards support these modes better than others and that may be why some people use them with no problems.

 

Amen jheibeck, I'm in the process of testing Standby after years of ignoring it. It works flawlessly on this 2 year old HP 540n whereas it causes my new (3 month old) Dell 2400 to lock up instantly, even before entering Standby. Go figure. It requires a cold boot to get it going again.

Luck of the draw it seems. I'll test for software running differences on the two boxes but I doubt that is the problem. More likely the MOBO as you stated.

 

The PCs in question are about 4 years old now (1GHZ). Newer boards probably support these modes better.

 

Standby

I reguarly use standby mode, always have, and never had any problems.

 

.........

I don't get what's so bad about Stand-by? I've virtually had my computer on since I bought it, only using Shutdown for crashes and freeze ups.

 

Currently, I never shut down my PC. I like the idea of saving electricity, however small, and still having the machine come alive quickly. I update my virus signatures nightly, and run SETI at Home as my screen saver, which needs internet access when it is finished with a data batch (I have a cable modem). I also run a nightly backup batch file. Will a PC in Standby mode execute scheduled tasks?

 

Hibarnation Takes Too Long

Hi,
I 've been reading Arie Slob's emails for a long-long time but today was the day I ve decided to join the group.
I dont know why is everybody against or neutral to Hibernation. I ve been using it since I bought my first notebook 4 years ago with no problems. I dont know the benefits but it feels so good to bring the monster to life so fast!
Unfortunatelly, few months ago (maybe after installing SP2) my latest notebook (Acer Aspire1705) takes about a minute to hibernate instead of few seconds it needed at the beginning. I ve done a lot of "search" but I cant figure it out. If anybody could give me some help... Thanks and welcome me to the BBS

 

...JUST TURN THE FREAKIN' COMPUTER OFF unless you are coming back soon...and "soon" is a relative word so, use your own judgment...my computer is on all day (because I design things on it)...and, I leave it on as I eat lunch in the other room (approx. 20-30 minutes)... but, if I go away let's say, and I leave the premises for an hour or so, I turn my computer off...what is more important is for you to use a battery back-up on your computer because plug strips do not work against much of anything...especially the deadly "brown-out" that occurs more often than spikes that plug-strips are suppossed to protect you from.

 

My desktop computer stays on all day, and sometimes all night, so I don't use either standby or hibernation. I power down the monitor from a systray icon if I expect to be away for an hour or more, and a key press or mouse movement revives it.

I use hibernation on my IBM T40 laptop, though. Closing the lid puts it into hibernation, and a press of the power button brings it back to what I was doing when I closed the lid. It takes 20 seconds to come out of hibernation, vs. a minute and 50 seconds to cold boot, and hibernation has never caused a problem of any kind.