I know many of you do not turn off your computer or laptop at night as you prefer to immediately use the computer when you’re at it. Turning off your computer at night can help you lower your energy bill but there are some people totally against turning their computer off because the hard disks did not automatically park their heads when shut off, and that frequent on/off (heating and cooling) cycling could damage the hard disks. Today’s PCs are designed to handle 40,000 on/off cycles before a failure, and that’s a number you likely won’t reach during the computer’s five-to-seven-year life span.
So turning your computer off at night and then turning it back on when you want to use is fine. If you hate to wait for 2 minutes for Windows to boot up, you can put your computer in Stand By or Hibernation because either mode will help you save almost as much energy as you do turning off your computer for the night, and you won’t have to endure a lengthy “re-booting” process the next morning; your computer should “wake up” in 30 seconds or less.
What if you want to run a program, let’s say a software to record TV at wee hours of the morning? No problem as it is possible to wake up your system from a Stand-by mode or Hibernation programmatically.
This simple utility called WakeOnStandBy will do it for you. Once activated it resides in the system and wakes it up at predefined time, runs a file and if necessary sends it into Stand-by mode, hibernates it or shuts it down. It can also be used to run scheduled operations every day, or on specific day(s).
WakeOnStandBy Special features:
Can restore almost every Windows-based operating system from a Stand-by mode (and some from hibernation) that support ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) (For support check computer’s BIOS as well as Control Panel -> Power Options); Can run a file or open a web page at a predetermined time after a wake-up event, during normal operation, or before performing power operation; Can send system back to Stand-by mode (hibernate it, shut it down, or log off user) after a certain time interval; Can detect if Stand-by mode (or hibernation) is supported by your system; Can turn the monitor on and hold off screen-saver during the waiting time; Can repair local area network and high-speed Internet connection upon waking up from a suspended state; Can send system into Stand-by mode or hibernate it with more options than available through Operating System; Can be incorporated into an in-car (entertainment) PC system to speed up booting time & save battery [more here]; Can be run from the Windows Command Line without user interaction; Can be saved as a batch file for later use.
WakeOnStandBy looks pretty easy to use but it can be very powerful. Just set the time to wake up computer and click Start. The program can also automatically run a file or program with parameters when computer wakes up. In some cases you may want to repair your local network and/or high-speed Internet connection upon waking up from suspended state. Check “Repair network” box for that. Check out the official online manual for more information on how to use WakeOnStandBy.
WakeOnStandBy is free, portable, 436KB in size and has been tested on Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista.