I’m not quite sure why it took me so long to figure out the way to really speed-up my start-up and shut-down process was to completely stop doing it. I should start using the “Hibernate” function instead.

Are you using this already? Why not?

Doing consulting work I’m moving from client site to client site and home and back and here and there. I used to do a complete shut-down and power-up with each move. When I stopped doing that I started saving significant amounts of time in the process.

Compare these numbers:

Again, there’s no big secret to this. We’ve had Sleep and Hibernate modes on our computers for quite awhile. Why wasn’t I using it before? Why aren’t you?

I think perhaps the reason I wasn’t was ignorance of what occurred during hibernate. The computer uses minimal to no power consumption during the process. Nothing is running so there’s no heat generated while it’s in my back-pack.

It’s just a great tip to saving a lot of time. I do recommend doing a shut-down and reboot on a regular basis though. I usually do one at least every other day.

Image: sxc.hu

Post from: EveryJoe

Speed Up Start-up/Shut-down… Stop Doing It!

Also, yesterday evening as I was assisting one of my clients with some of their computer needs, his wife had recently purchased a new laptop and it had Vista installed on it as well. I only needed to setup her machine to connect to his office’s wi-fi network so nothing in depth there. I did feel it was fairly easy to connect the machine though.

One thing I immediately noticed on her machine that I’d be changing in a heartbeat is the size of the icons. Those suckers are HUGE! I feel like we were accidentally shipped the Reader’s Digest Large Print Edition instead of the normal size.

One of the specific items my colleague stated about his experience so far was the super fast start-up and shut-down time. He also mentioned that power use is one of the areas he’s noticed numerous comments on from the internet and users not being used to.

With Windows 95 and XP, we all got introduced and used to the idea of just putting our machines in Sleep or Hibernate mode to conserve power. Do you all do that? I pretty much leave my machine on all day, and only shut it off in the evenings. I think I may stop doing that though after reading some of the information recently about power use.

Microsoft stated that the most power consumption for the machine really occurs at start-up and shut-down. They’ve combined the Sleep/Hibernate into a single command, which I think makes sense because I never did really understand the complete difference between the two different settings, or at least the need for the separation.

Windows Vista has been developed to remain on constantly and it appears many users aren’t used to that. How do you feel?

Visit this link for a nice overview of how to customize and change your power options in Vista

Post from: EveryJoe

More People Migrating to Vista