Putting computer to sleep

[jmt356]

On every laptop I've bought, there has been a key, usually a function key, that when pressed with fn makes the computer go to sleep. But I can't find one on the HP G62 laptop. The best keyboard shortcut I can find for putting it to sleep is to click on the taskbar, press alt+F4, press S twice (to scroll down to Sleep) and press enter. Is there not a faster shortcut?

[StuartR]

On most laptops you can configure the power button to put the computer to sleep. A long press of the button actually powers the computer off. Have a look in the control panel > Power options.

[jmt356]

Yes, I am aware of this, but I usually like the keep the power button assigned to hibernation. This way, I ahve a shortcut key for sleep and the power button for hibernation. Unfortunately, this particular model has no keyboard shortcuts for sleep (besides, of course, alt+F4, which is less efficent becasue you have ot scroll to "Sleep" and press okay), so I'll just stick with hibernation for now.

On an unrelated note, is it true that turning off your laptop each night helps extend it's life (maybe something about turning it off and on in the morning clears out temporary files and such that otherwise linger if it is never restarted and is only put to sleep/hibernation).

[HansV]

There are two different issues here:

Although recent versions of Windows are good at memory management, if you leave a computer on for a long time (and use it), some garbage may remain in memory, and this can build up. A restart will clear this. Turning your computer off and on will not necessarily clear temporary files - you can use a utility such as CCleaner (free) for that.

All components of a computer wear down with use. If you turn off the computer while you sleep, the components get some rest, just like you, so this may extend your computer's useful life. On the other hand, it can be handy to schedule backups, virus scans etc. to be executed while you sleep, so you'll have to decide what works best for you.

[PaulB]

There is much merit to what Hans says above, but on those occasions where you want the ability to quickly restart your computer you may want to consider using hybrid sleep instead of both sleep and hibernate. That way you can assign the power button to accomplish both hybrid sleep and power down.

[jmt356]

Hans, I’m a bit confused. Why World a restart clear this garbage but turning a computer on and off will not? Also, does a computer rest any better when it is turned off than when it is in hibernation?

[HansV]

Both a restart and turn off/turn on will clear garbage from memory, neither will delete temporary files. Hibernation does not clear memory - on the contrary, the entire computer memory is dumped to hard disk when you hibernate, then reloaded when you waken the computer.

Both turning the computer off and hibernating it will shut down the power, so the computer components get a rest. This is not true for standby mode.

[viking33]

Hans, I’m a bit confused. Why World a restart clear this garbage but turning a computer on and off will not? Also, does a computer rest any better when it is turned off than when it is in hibernation?

There is a fairly good explanation given at this howtofixyourcomouter.com page.

Re: "Restart" vs. "Shut down"
A 'cold boot' varies from a 'warm boot' in that power to the memory chips is
lost on the cold boot. Calling the 'unmaskable interrupt', Int zero, puts
the pointer on the input data bus to the first byte of memory, and it reads
the 'bootstrap' of the BIOS chip. If devices and memory are warm, the boot
is faster, but it does not insure that memory is flushed, and there is a
small risk of 'data out of bounds' errors. Vista is even more guilty of not
flushing memory than previous systems, since nothing is ever intentionally
'blanked'.
----------------------------------
So what this is really saying is that the interval between "power off & "power on," is fairly short when rebooting. Although a few milli-seconds is a large amount of time to your system, sometimes it is not quite long enough to accomplish flushing memory and resetting caches, etc. Actually turning things off and shutting down for 10-15-seconds before restarting gives everything more than enough time to "start from scratch" so to speak.

Sometimes a cold boot accomplishes wonders. It gives you an SWH moment.
( something wonderful happens )

[jmt356]

So a full shut down at night does have benefits.

[HansV]

So a full shut down at night does have benefits.

Yes, it does.

[viking33]

So a full shut down at night does have benefits.

It does. Also saves a few watts of power from not just sitting there at night, idling.

I always shut down at night but there are some who like to leave things running, claiming less wear and tear on system components with the turn on\turn off in place?
Everyone has a different theory, I suppose.