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Question

Is it ok to just hibernate than to shut down?

Jan 6, 2012 12:58AM PST

I've been sort of wondering what the difference is between hibernating and shutting down a computer and if its ok for it to just hibernate instead because that's faster and easier to do on my old computer. Just wondering.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
That's what my machine does all the time.
Jan 6, 2012 1:03AM PST

For the past 5 or more years. And because of Windows and other updates I get a reboot at least monthly. Here I have little trouble and I save 1.21 GigaWatts in the process.
Bob

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Off or on?
Jan 6, 2012 1:32AM PST
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Hibernate
Jan 20, 2012 10:02AM PST

This has been a question that many people have asked. I've been working on computers for 32 years and retired from Microsoft after 22 and I know from experience that many systems can get hung in hibernation mode and you have to re-boot anyhow. The reason the the system hanging up are the utilities running in the background, Anti-virus programs etc etc. Personally I would just have a screen saver going and put all power saving modes in "Never" modes. The new computers take hardly any power at all and getting better each year.

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Answer
This is an age old debate with widely differring opinions
Jan 20, 2012 2:06PM PST

It seems to be true that some computers have difficulty in doing a resume from hibernation. If your machine can come out of hibernation with no hangups, then fine, let it hibernate. If you are comfortable with shutting off each time you are done for a while, then do so -- this will consume a bit less power than hibernation but your machine will start more slowly.
I do neither. When I leave my machine for a while, I put it in "lock" status. In this mode it shuts down the display (after 10 minutes) but is free to work on several background tasks.
I get a lot of email -- every ten minutes or so, it collects my email from several servers so there is no backlog. Even though I have a very high speed connection, I hate so sit and watch it download 83 (or somesuch number) of emails.
At 3 AM it does my automatic backup.
During the night the mandatory updates can be installed and I do not have to watch it happen (it is pretty much like watching paint dry). Occasionally this causes a reboot which stops much of the background processing -- especially the collection of email -- but at least I do not have to wait for the reboot, only the login when I return.
Yes, this does consume a bit more power, but it isnot noticable on my bill and it makes life a lot easier for me.
IMHO:
You should be doing backups (daily if you use your machine daily for creative tasks). You should be installing the mandatory updates (there are many who disagree with this and monitor the updates very clossely). You should be doing a periodic scan for viruses (and other germs), ideally everytime you access the internet.
In summary, I do it my way because that is the way I feel comfortable. You should read the various opinions and then decide what feels comfortable for you. I sincerely hope that does not mean you skip the backups, software updates and virus checks. That might cause you serious issues at some future point.
Good Luck!