Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
Question from Alan: I know there are several ways to put a Windows PC to sleep but what I’d really like to have is a desktop icon I can click on to put it to sleep with just a double-click. Is there any way to created one?
Rick’s answer: The answer to your question is yes, Alan. And it’s very easy to do. [Read more…]
Question from Larry: I just bought my first laptop and I have a question about it.
When I close the lid it goes into Sleep mode. Is it safe to carry it around while in Sleep mode or should I shut it down completely?
I’ve always been told never to move a computer that’s powered up or it’ll damage the hard drive, and a sleeping laptop still has power, right?
As you can see I’m confused LOL. Looking forward to your answer.
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Question from Brad: I have a Dell laptop with Windows 10 and it has a problem that’s driving me up the wall.
Ever since it installed the latest Windows Update it’s been going into sleep mode every time the machine is idle for exactly two minutes (I timed it).
I’ve went through the power settings several times and changed every setting that could possibly place the machine in sleep mode to make it go to sleep after 45 minutes.
But still it goes to sleep after just two minutes. It’s like Windows 10 is completely ignoring my power settings!
Can you tell me how to fix this?
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Have you ever been reading a lengthy article or watching a video and had your computer go into sleep mode or activate the screensaver right in the middle of it? Me too, and it can get rather annoying.
Depending on your system’s power settings, Windows will often think you aren’t using your PC if several minutes go by without you pressing a key or moving the mouse, and it will happily activate your screensaver or go into sleep mode. And when that happens it’s usually at the most inconvenient time possible.
A great free download called Caffeine will keep Windows from interrupting your work even when it thinks that the computer is sitting idle. Just activate it when you know you’ll be doing something for a while that doesn’t require keyboard or mouse activity, then de-activate it when you’re done. That way you can leave your power settings as they are.
Here’s how to use Caffeine to keep your PC active during long periods with no keyboard or mouse activity: [Read more…]