Bill Detwiler: If your morning routine naturally starts with a cup of coffee and firing up your PC, you might want to consider a little tweak to your system that will have your Windows XP awake and ready to meet you as soon as you settle in.
I'm Bill Detwiler, and in this video, I'll tell you how you can customize your Windows XP machine to wake up when you do.
If you use Windows XP s Hibernation feature on your laptop or desktop to put your system to sleep at the end of the day, you can schedule your system to wake up in the morning.
Using the Scheduled Task Wizard, your machine will be ready and waiting for you just as if you had left it on all night.
Here's how to set it up:
Go to Start | Programs (or All Programs) | Accessories | System Tools | Scheduled Tasks
Now, launch the Scheduled Task Wizard by double-clicking Add Scheduled Task.
Click Next and select the program that you want to start when your system wakes up, and then click Next again.
Following along with the wizard, select the Daily option, choose a time that you want your system to wake up, and then type a username and password with Administrative privileges.
On the last page, select the Open Advanced Properties For This Task When I Click Finish check box and click Finish.
When you see the Properties dialog box for the scheduled task, choose the Settings tab and select the Wake The Computer To Run This Task check box.
You're done! Now your PC will be ready to greet you each morning.
This tip was a favorite with power users when it first appeared in the Windows blog. But, there are two caveats that you should know.
First, your computer hardware must be ACPI and Plug-and-Play compliant and the drivers must also be Plug-and-Play compliant. Most new computers, will fall into this category. Second, you'll need to check your Windows Power Options properties to ensure that hibernate is enabled. If not, you'll need to enable it.
Now, are there any other little customizations that you'd like to add to your PC? Drop us a suggestion in the IT Dojo blog about tips you'd like to see or share your own favorite tweak.
And as always, for more teachings on your path to becoming an IT Ninja, visit itdojo.techrepublic.com. And please let us know if this tip was helpful.
You can also submit your favorite IT Ninja tips by e-mailing them to us at itdojo@techrepublic.com. If we use them for an episode of IT Dojo, we'll send you a TechRepublic coffee mug.
I'm Bill Detwiler. Thanks for visiting TechRepublic's IT Dojo.
