When we usually use computers, we often choose to shut them down when we leave, generally thinking that this saves power and is safe. However, this is just everyone's habitual practice, and many people have not thought about whether this approach is reasonable. In fact, Microsoft has provided “standby” and “hibernation” functions since the Windows Available. Let's take a look at what kind of "sleep" method we should choose for Windows 7 under different circumstances.
1. Leave the computer for a short time and use “sleep” to take a nap.
When I usually use a computer, I often have to leave for a period of time, which may be long or short, but not very fixed, such as when eating at noon or in the evening. If you shut down the computer at this time, it will seem a bit fussy, because when you come back, many programs and web pages will have to be reopened. However, if you don't shut down, the computer will be left on for nothing, wasting electricity. If there is any further delay, the time will change from one It’s not necessarily that one hour turns into two hours, then it’s even more of a waste! I’m really in a dilemma, what should I do? In fact, you only need to enable the system's sleep function at this time.
When you need to wake up after entering sleep mode, you only need to press the power button or shake the USB mouse to quickly resume the working state before leaving and continue working. The speed is much faster than restarting after shutting down! And all the work before sleeping can be continued without restarting. At the same time, after entering the sleep state, the computer will only have power on the memory to save working status data, while all other hardware will be powered off, so the power consumption is very low.
What is "sleep"?
When the computer is in sleep state, the power supply to other accessories except the memory will be cut off, and the working state data will be saved in the memory, so that when the computer is reawakened, the working state before sleep can be quickly restored. If you need to leave the computer for a short period of time during work, you can use the sleep function, which can save power and quickly resume work.
However, I need to remind you that because the sleep state does not save the desktop state to the hard disk, if the power is cut off during the sleep state, the unsaved information will be lost. Therefore, before the system sleeps, you'd better save the information you need to save. Save all the documents with "Ctrl+S", just in case.
Tip: There are two ways to enable the sleep function. One is to click sleep directly in the shutdown button of the start menu. The other is to set the time in the computer power management. As long as no one operates the computer and reaches this setting. After a certain amount of time, it will automatically enter sleep mode.
Additionally, enabling Hibernation, Hybrid Sleep, and Away Mode are similar to enabling Sleep.
2. Don’t use “Hibernate” for a long time to let the computer have a good sleep.
In addition to leaving the computer for a short time, sometimes we may leave it for a longer period of time, such as going out to do errands, or even being away from the computer for a day. So should we turn off the computer at this time? If you shut down the computer, the programs, documents, web pages, information, etc. that are open in the computer will have to be reopened the next time you turn it on! If you don't shut down the computer, if you don't come back for a day, all the data will be over as soon as the power is turned off, even if you use sleep. No! What to do? Very simple! Enable another useful function - "sleep"!
Compared with the sleep function, which saves data in the memory, the hibernation function saves the data to the hard disk. After entering the hibernation state, all accessories are not powered on, so the power consumption is almost zero! And even if the power is turned off in the hibernation state, It will not affect the saved data. When the computer wakes up, all work can still be resumed normally. At the same time, because the data is saved on the hard disk, the wake-up speed is much faster than restarting the computer.
What is "hibernation"?
"Hibernation" is a power-saving state mainly designed for portable computers. In this state, open documents and programs will be saved to a file on the hard disk (which can be understood as a mirror of the memory state). When the computer is turned on next time, it will be saved from This file reads data and loads it into physical memory. This file is the same size as physical memory. Since the file written to the memory during hibernation is a disk file, the reading speed is much more efficient than the disk access during normal startup, so it is much faster than normal startup.
In addition, it must be said that after enabling the hibernation function, a hibernation file with the same size as your memory will be generated on the system disk to store the data in the memory. Users should pay attention to whether their system disk has enough space. For the stable operation of the system, the available space should account for about 10% of the system partition, that is, a 50GB system partition should have at least 5GB of available space.
Tip: If you are not using your computer for a long time, it is best to shut it down. In addition, some Internet-connected programs, such as Web applications that require login, instant messaging software (most instant messaging software can automatically reconnect after recovery, but cannot save the original conversation window) and many network management programs may appear after recovery. cannot be used normally, so it is best to exit these programs before the system hibernates.
3. Use "hybrid sleep" when you leave for an uncertain time and let the computer choose by itself.
Okay, above we talked about the situation of leaving for a short time and leaving for a long time respectively, but sometimes life is always full of variables - I don’t know how long I will be away, what should I do? It may be an hour, or it may be a day. It is not safe to use sleep, and it is not as convenient as sleeping to use hibernate!
Take it easy! The best way is to let the computer choose flexibly - if there is no power supply, it will recover from the memory; if there is a power outage, it will recover from the hard drive. And this is the "hybrid sleep" function!
After hybrid sleep is enabled, the computer will automatically enter the sleep state. However, unlike the sleep state, the data saved in the memory will also be saved in the hard disk. Therefore, even if the power is cut off, there will be no data loss. You can also resume faster while working on your computer, which is the advantage of hybrid sleep.
What is "hybrid sleep"
Hybrid sleep is unique to Win7 but not found in WinXP. It combines all the advantages of sleep and hibernation. After entering hybrid sleep, the system will first save the data in the memory to the hard disk, and at the same time cut off the power supply to other devices except the memory. During recovery, if there is no power outage, the system will recover directly from the memory, which only takes a few seconds; if there is a power outage, the hard drive still retains the state of the memory, so it can be restored from the hard drive without worrying about data. lost.
Tip: Hybrid sleep mode requires the motherboard's power management to support S3 mode, but most motherboards support this mode. If your computer supports the hybrid sleep function, then after turning on the hybrid sleep function and starting sleep, the system will automatically enter the hybrid sleep state.
4. Use "away mode" to download on-hook to let the computer run with low power consumption
In addition to the situations we mentioned above that will cause the computer to be in a "hang-up" state, there is another very important application in daily life - on-hook downloading. In the past, we usually started downloading programs, then turned off the monitor and speakers to let the computer run automatically. However, in this state, some non-working hardware will continue to consume power, such as graphics cards, sound cards, etc. In Win7, we can enable the new "away mode", which will neither disconnect the network nor affect the normal operation of the download program!
What is the power consumption of entering away mode? After entering this mode, the hard disk and memory will remain in working condition, and the CPU will enter a low-power consumption state (if the CPU does not support any energy-saving technology, leaving the mode will cause the CPU to run at the lowest multiplier × the lowest FSB to reduce its power. consumption), and unnecessary devices such as graphics cards and sound cards will lose power. Although the power consumption is higher than in sleep mode, it still saves more power than normal startup downloading.
What is "away mode"?
Away mode is similar to sleep, except that in away mode, file reading and writing operations can still continue while maintaining network connectivity, while unnecessary devices such as graphics cards and sound cards are turned off to save energy.
However, "away mode" requires hardware devices that support advanced power management and requires some settings.
First of all, you need to set all the options of turning off the hard disk and entering hibernation in the power management to "Never". Otherwise, how can you download if the hard disk is turned off? Secondly, you need to modify the registry, open the registry editor with administrator rights and locate "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlSession ManagerPower", and create a new "AwayModeEnabled" in the right pane. DWORD (32-bit)" value and assign it to "1" (hexadecimal), which will take effect after restarting. In this way, click the "Sleep" button in the Win7 start menu to automatically enter "Away Mode".
Tip: During the save process of sleep and hibernation, do not press the computer power switch, otherwise it may cause the problem of being unable to enter the system.
In addition, if you are using a laptop, when the battery is in battery-powered sleep mode, if the battery is about to run out, the system will automatically save the memory data to the hard drive and then turn off the power and enter hibernation. At the same time, if the time to enter hibernation in the power plan is reached, it will also enter hibernation. Therefore, under normal circumstances, the laptop only needs to enable the sleep function. If you want to save power, you can set the time to enter sleep state in the power management options, so that you can be sure that everything is foolproof.
I believe many users will wonder - is there really no need to shut down? Yes, after using computers for so many years, we have become accustomed to turning it off after get off work every day, turning it off before going to bed, and even turning it off when we go out to eat at noon. In fact, we have not seriously considered this habit of ours, nor have we carefully studied the sleep and hibernation functions provided to us by Microsoft. In fact, the functions provided by Microsoft naturally have their uses, otherwise they would not always exist and will be further enhanced in Win7. So after reading this article, you might as well give it a try and experience the convenience and benefits brought by the sleep and hibernation functions, and don’t be kidnapped by habit.