[cocoa]

When I logoff I usually keep my system in standby. When I am ready to turn the machine back on, I usually (and this may be wrond) touch any key on the keyboard or the mouse and 1 of 2 things will happen..either the machine will start up again no problem or it will make this buzzing sound like I've done something wrong and then I have to manually power the machine off and turn it back on..what is the problem with me leaving the machine in standby mode?

[CrashAbbott]

Well seeing as you havent provided much insight into the Hardware aspects of your machine,, I will try and work in virtual terms...

The problem with Standby is that XP takes a "snapshot" of everything that you had going,, and saves this snapshot in RAM and HD memory.

When you come back and hit a key,, any key,, pick a key,,, you start up the wake process, if your machine is lower end in HD space, RAM, or processor power,, Standby will give you a headache.

My suggestion would be to either a) lock the PC using CTL-ALT-DEL , this will maintain your pc in the present state
or,
Logoff completely.

I have a feeling that there is a patch for Standby, however, I personally disable that feature on the bulk of XP machines due to the problems as you have stated,,

cheers,

[Lone Wolf]

Originally posted by cocoa
what is the problem with me leaving the machine in standby mode?

Cocoa, Stand-by and Hibernation modes are designed to be used only on Laptop computers - NOT desktop.

[cocoa]

Lone Wolf, I didn't know that...hmmm, ok, guess I will do ctrl + alt + delete

[Lone Wolf]

Originally posted by cocoa
Lone Wolf, I didn't know that...hmmm, ok, guess I will do ctrl + alt + delete

The reason for that is that those power management features are designed to cut down on the batter power consumption. Since desktops don't have a battery, it does not apply to a desktop.

For my PC at home, I like to use the power management feature to have everything fully on except for the monitor (which is set to go off after 30 mins of inactivity).