To Standby or To Hibernate?

STANDBY: Standby switches off the screen and the hard drive(s) but keeps the PC running in low power mode to retain the contents of the RAM . So when you resume from standby the PC returns to exactly how you left it .HIBERNATE: In Hibernate copies the entire contents of RAM to the hard drive and then switches everything off . So when you next start up , instead of loading Windows from scratch it will read the contents of RAM back from the hard drive and return to the state in which you left it .

So when a PC that has been set to Standby will start up quicker than one that was set to Hibernate . And a PC that has been set to Hibernate will start up quicker than from a normal start up .

Typical start up times are :
Standby – 15 seconds ,
Hibernate – 35 seconds ,
Normal start – 2 minutes .

Depending on the way that they are set up , most laptops will move to Standby after a few minutes of inactivity and then will go to Hibernation after a few more minutes . You can change these settings in : Start Menu > Control Panel > Performance and Maintenance > Power Options > Power Schemes . The options are self-explanatory .

A PC that is always started from standby or hibernation will need starting normally from time to time to clear out the gradual buildup of memory errors that accumulate thanks to poor programming . . . . . . .