Power Management features are standard in Windows and Macintosh operating systems and can place monitors and computers (CPU, hard drive, etc.) into a low-power “sleep mode” after a period of inactivity. Simply touching the mouse or keyboard “wakes” the computer and monitor in seconds. Activating sleep features saves energy, money, and helps protect the environment.

 To activate or change your personal power settings, please select your computer's operating system below for detailed and illustrated manual instructions:

There are many ways to activate sleep features across entire networks of computers, including free solutions that utilize open source software and/or tools that you may already have at your disposal. Alternatively, a number of commercial software packages offer more feature-rich solutions for a fee, and may deliver more energy savings. We can help you determine the best way to activate power management features in your IT environment based on your requirements. To schedule a technical assistance call, send an email to smb@computersoff.org.

To maximize power savings, we recommend setting computers to enter system standby or hibernate after 15 to 30 minutes of inactivity. To save even more, set monitors to enter sleep mode after 5 to 20 minutes of inactivity. The lower the setting, the more energy you save.

On laptops, be sure to activate these settings in the AC power profile — not just the DC (battery power) profile.

As enterprises add computing resources to their growing organizations, electricity costs continue to rise unchecked. This growth in electricity consumption is fuelled in part by the trend towards more powerful computers loaded with more memory, more drives, and more capabilities.