Today's Eco-tip is about hibernation. No, I am not talking about bears sleeping through the winter, I am referring to hibernation mode in computers. For the sake of this tip, I am going to assume that you are one of the 95% of people in the world who uses the Microsoft windows operating system, if you are not, thats ok, we have a link for you at the bottom. So, what is hibernation? Hibernation is basically a process in which Windows will take a picture of your current desktop and all of your currently running programs and save it to your hard drive, at which point, windows will then shut down. Now by saving the image in your computers hard drive, it is able to access it when it is turned back on. What's great about hibernation is that you can pre-set it to hibernate when it senses non-activity for an extended period of time. Also when you come back to the computer and power it up again, the start-up sequence is twice as fast as it normally is and all of your information is back up exactly like you left it. This means no more having to save and close all of your open windows before going and shutting down your computer, you can either invoke the hibernation manually or have it done automatically. Setup:The setup is really simple. Simply go to START--->SETTINGS--->CONTROL PANEL and in the control panel window find the "POWER OPTIONS" and double click. Once you are inside the "Power Options Properties" you are going to make a few setting changes. First click on the "HIBERNATE" tab and click on the empty box next to "Enable Hibernation" so that a check appears in the box and then click the apply at the bottom right. Now click on the "POWER SCHEMES" tab and select the "Power Scheme" which best describes your situation. Now adjust the settings directly below to turn off your monitor after XX minutes (I recommend 10-15 or less). Now set the "turn off hard disks" to never and set the "System Hibernates" to a time limit that suits your needs (I recommend 1 hour). Now Click apply and you are done. Pat yourself on the back because you just eliminated about 300 lbs of CO2 per year reducing your household rate by 2% and saving about $15-$20 annually. If you want even more savings, mix this method with an automated SmartStrip power strip so that you peripherals (printers, speakers, mice, etc..) get turned off as well when your computer hibernates. And as promised, for those Apple users here is a freeware software program to help you out. See you next week,Adam Beazley
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