Is there a way to automatically force standby in Windows XP

[Ksyder]

I have our Win XP living room pc set to go into S3 standby after 10 minutes of inactivity. Usually its no problem for this to occur but my pc ignorant roommates will leave the winamp playlist running and leave or go to sleep and this causes the pc to run until I catch it and set the box to standby manually.

I am doing this because our electricity bill has been too high for awhile and I am trying to get it lowered to cut back on bills with the winter heating bills coming up. Is there a way to force standby even with some program running that will prevent standby from happening?

 

[VirtualLarry]

How do you heat? Electrical heaters are 100% efficient, and your CPU and GPU are electrical heaters. So any power that the computer uses is turned into heat.

 

[Ksyder]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
How do you heat? Electrical heaters are 100% efficient, and your CPU and GPU are electrical heaters. So any power that the computer uses is turned into heat.

we have a gas furnace. Its an old apartment so we are cold even with the windows covered in plastic, etc. something along the lines of $300 per month heating cost and leaving the thermostat at 62.

Thats not a bad idea though, and I'm sure disabling all of the fans and taking the side off the case might heat the room a bit. Its a cheap radeon x300 videocard so I don't think that would add to much heat too the room.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Don't disable the fans on the computer, that helps transfer the heat from inside the computer to outside, in the room.

 

[Ksyder]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
Don't disable the fans on the computer, that helps transfer the heat from inside the computer to outside, in the room.

So then the fans are moving heat away from the pc and into the room is whats happening?

edit - NM thats what you just said. Should have re-read your post.
Thanks, thats a good point. Wouldn't have thought about it otherwise.

 

[VinylxScratches]

Lower the clock speed of the computer would help?

 

[Ksyder]

Originally posted by: VinylxScratches
Lower the clock speed of the computer would help?

I think it has cool n' quiet turned on...

 

[Ken g6]

Depending on where you live, an electrical resistance heater may be the equivalent of a 35% efficient coal furnace, as opposed to an 80-95% efficient gas furnace.

If there are times when you know you won't be using the computer, you can use something like Wizmo in a scheduled task to standby or hibernate.

 

[C1]

The thread listed discusses how to use psshutdown which is available from Microsoft:

http://www.howtofixcomputers.c...ommand-line-98504.html

See :

http://technet.microsoft.com/e...nternals/bb897541.aspx