Question: Pam asks, "What is the difference between sleep and hibernate?"
Answer: With so many new laptops out there, the distinction may be troubling a bunch of folks, so that's a good question. I mention laptops because that's where you usually see this. You can shut Windows down three different ways. The way you choose is most dependent upon personal preference, but also upon how long you plan to leave the computer off, and how much time you're willing to wait when you turn it back on. First, you can just shut it down and turn it off like everyone else has to do. This is most appropriate if you plan to leave it off and unplugged for a couple of days or more. This takes the longest time to shut down and the longest time to restart, and uses the least power while the computer is off – none. Hibernate is a good substitute for shutdown because no power is being used while the computer is off. Shut down and restart is faster than just turning the computer off because Hibernate copies everything in memory to a file on your hard drive before turning off. When you turn it back on, it reads that file and puts everything back into memory as it had been before you hibernated it. That process is generally faster than a reboot but will take longer than simply putting the computer to sleep. Sleep is similar to hibernate, but the contents of memory aren't copied anywhere. The system just powers off except for the memory circuits. These are kept alive to preserve the contents of memory. Resuming the computer from Sleep occurs extremely fast because everything is in place already – it just has to be reenergized. The one drawback to sleep mode is that because your computer's memory is still energized, it is still drawing power from the battery. I have left my laptop in sleep mode for several hours and usually don't notice a difference in my battery. It's not a mode you want to use if you're going to be away from the system for several days, but if you're about to carry it between work and home or even on a short plane flight, this should be fine. Most laptops go into sleep mode when the lid is closed, and hibernate when the power button is pressed. If yours doesn't, check the power settings in control panel.
Cool Site: ChristianPost.com: OK in days like these, it's easy to become, as I have, a news junkie. When you need to know the news with a Christian perspective, check out ChristianPost.com. Some of the headlines I found there were "High Court Refuses to Hear Bible Club Case", "White House: Search for Obamas' Church Home Continues", "Christians Join Forces to Protect Common Values", "Iranian Christians Dispute Election Results". Have you heard these stories elsewhere? Tabs at the top of the site let you choose between a US and an International edition. The site offers a daily or weekly newsletter you can sign up for, and while they offer the same kind of topics as most other news sites, they also offer topics like Church, Ministries, and Missions. There are videos, devotionals, and cartoons. Have a look: www.christianpost.com.
Cool Gadget: SwissFlash 16GB Laser Pointer: As a kid, I had a genuine Swiss Army knife. I used that thing all the time, even handing it down to my kids. Well, now they've gone High Tech. The SwissFlash 16GB Laser Pointer is short on knife features, the blade, the nail file, the scissors are all there, but this one also includes a laser pointer and a 16GB USB flash drive. It's a bit expensive, at $145, but a genuine Swiss Army knife will be.
It's All "Geek" To Me: zombie: A zombie is a computer that has been covertly taken over to perform some nefarious task like sending out spam, attack websites, launch denial of service attacks, etc. You are usually unaware that your computer has been taken over. Firewall and antivirus software can help prevent your computer from becoming a zombie.
