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Standby Mode
Standby is a variation on shutting down the computer system
that makes use of a PC's power saving capabilities. Invoking
standby essentially puts a computer into a state of
semi-consciousness, sort of like when I'm laying on the
couch watching sports and swearing I'm awake when in reality
I'm about 99.9% asleep. The amount of electricity used by
the computer in standby mode is barely a trickle; just
enough to keep the memory alive so that open documents and
programs are stored without data loss. The primary power saving is achieved by turning
off the system drives, monitor, and other
miscellaneous items.
There is a danger in using standby that shouldn't be
ignored. Since open programs and documents being worked on
are stored in volatile memory that is only kept alive by
that trickle of power I mentioned earlier, if the power does
go off then unsaved changes will be lost. Therefore, I'd
strongly recommend that you save document changes before
standby is invoked. That brings up the question that if you
do save changes first, why bother using standby?
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It's quick. Right now I'm using a web
page editor and have e-mail, browser, spreadsheet, and
numerous utility programs open. I can invoke standby and
have the system secured in a total of six seconds. That
sure beats closing all the apps, documents, and shutting
down the system.
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The system can be set to go into standby
automatically after a certain period of system
inactivity. Very handy if you walk away from your desk
and leave documents and programs open.
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It's especially useful on a laptop where
battery power is always an issue. Setting standby to a
fairly quick invoke rate can save a lot of juice that
laptop batteries don't have to spare.
Invoking Standby
Standby can be invoked manually from the Turn off computer'
dialog box.
It can be configured to kick in automatically via the Power
Options Properties screen. In the screen capture below I've
selected the Portable/Laptop power scheme that includes a
setting to put the system into standby mode after 20 minutes
of system inactivity.
The Advanced Tab in Power Options Properties gives you the
option of setting Power buttons to invoke standby. Many
keyboards contain a 'Sleep' key that is very convenient to
use with standby as illustrated in the screen capture below.
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