Computersight -

If you have Windows Vista or Windows 7, you may be using Hybrid Sleep (especially if you’re on a desktop computer) which is a combination of Sleep and Hibernate, instead of just Sleep and Hibernate. Unfortunately this results in a waste of power if you intend to turn your computer off at night (or if you don’t want to wait for the long startup next morning) and you just want to Hibernate it.

How do you know if you’re using Hybrid Sleep? Well, if your Start menu only has the option Sleep and not Hibernate, then you’re using Hybrid Sleep. If you have both options, then you don’t use Hybrid Sleep.

Hybrid Sleep	Sleep and Hibernate

Now, having Hybrid Sleep enabled doesn’t mean that you don’t have access to Hibernate. You can either do it by changing the Power Options in the Control Panel, from the command prompt, or with a shortcut.

Method 1: Changing Power Options

Note: You should only use this method if you’re confident that there wouldn’t be a power outage or if you have a backup power source, as it disables Hybrid Sleep (which is similar to Sleep mode but also saves your data to your hard drive). Therefore, if you decide to make your computer go into Sleep mode, you may lose information.

The following steps will allow you to chose Hibernate from the Start menu:

1. Open the Start menu by clicking the Start button
2. Type “Power Options” (without the quotes) into the Start Search field and open it from the list
   Tip: You can also access this from the Control Panel under the System and Maintenance category.
3. On the left side of the Power Options window that comes up, click the Change when the computer sleeps link
4. Click the Change advanced power settings link
5. On the advanced Power Options dialog box that opens, navigate the tree to Sleep > Allow hybrid sleep and change Setting to Off
6. Click OK on the advanced Power Options dialog box and click Save changes on the Edit Plan Settings window
7. The Start menu should now reflect the change

Method 2: Using The Command Prompt

Note: If you’re not confident enough with the Command Prompt, I suggest that you use the third method to Hibernate, which uses the same principles as this one.

The following steps will cause your computer to Hibernate:

1. Open the Start menu by clicking the Start button
2. Type “cmd.exe” (without the quotes) into the Start Search field and open it from the list
3. Type “shutdown.exe -h” (without the quotes) into the Command Prompt that comes up and press Enter
4. Your computer should now Hibernate

Method 3: Using a Shortcut

This is actually my preferred method because you don’t have to change anything on the computer or use the Command Prompt. The only thing you have to do is to create a shortcut.

The following steps will allow you to Hibernate by opening a shortcut:

1. Right-click an open area on your desktop or Windows Explorer and go to New > Shortcut
2. In the Create Shortcut wizard, type “shutdown.exe -h” (without the quotes) into the Browse… text field
3. Click Next
4. Give a name for your Hibernate shortcut (e.g. “Hibernate”)
5. Click Finish
6. You may now use the new shortcut to Hibernate your computer

Tip: You can also choose an icon for your shortcut by right-clicking it, selecting to Properties, and clicking on the Change Icon… button.

So there you have it! Now you can use Hibernate on your Windows Vista or Windows 7 machine.
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