Windows PCs can't sleep properly, and Microsoft wants it that way
Windows PCs can't sleep properly, and Microsoft wants it that way
The Modern Standby feature in newer Windows PCs never seems to work right.
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Anymore, standby seems to be a solution for a problem which no longer exists. Booting from a completely powered off state to a full desktop takes very little time, on a modern system with an SSD. You're also less likely to be online to receive updates or the like while in a standby state. Unlike phones, computers rarely have cellular modems. So, the benefits of an "always on" state are largely lost, as the system isn't going to get updates, notifications or data while it's in standby. Just power the device off.
Resuming from S3 is still a lot faster than cold booting or resuming from hibernation, even with SSDs and Fast Boot. It's also nice for keeping your session intact so you don't have to reopen programs and reload tabs.
"I don't have a need to sleep my computer so no one else should!"
Shutting down and re-booting doesn't retain your active work state. Mac OS will at least launch everything you had open if you want it to, but Windows (at least up to 10) has no such feature.
This is incorrect..ish. Windows, yes even 10, has had a feature for a while now called Automatic Restart Sign-on (ARSO). You can enable this feature by going to
Settings > Accounts > Sign in options > "Automatically save my restartable apps and restart them when I sign back in".After enabling it, a reboot will restore.. some apps (hence the 'ish'), these apps being mostly Microsoft apps (Edge, Word, Outlook, Notepad etc) + some third-party apps (I know Firefox gets restored, not sure about others).
You can also use the
shutdown /gcommand to test this (after enabling ARSO):/g Fully shuts down and restarts the computer. On restart, if Automatic Restart Sign-On is enabled, the device automatically signs in and locks based on the last interactive user. After sign in, it restarts any registered applications.https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/shutdown
Well that's handy. I wonder what determines if it can relaunch a program or not. Does it retain your actual work state though, or just relaunch those programs? On my MacBook if I tell it to restore stuff when I shut down then it takes me back to exact same state, sans some VPN logins. Unsaved text editor files will still be there, whatever I had open in vs code will be active, all my browser tabs will restore, etc.. It acts more like a hibernate than a shutdown.
Yep it does restore application state as well, but it's a bit of a hit-and-miss. Notepad is restored surprisingly well - including unsaved text and multiple windows; Firefox and Edge browser tabs are restored; unsaved Word docs are restored as well but oddly enough, Outlook's state isnt restored (although it does save any unsaved drafs).
I'm guessing some sort of resume/restartable support is needed from the app as well for this to work properly. I imagine modern "UWP" apps would just work, but some additional coding might be needed for traditional win32 apps. Like Adobe Reader for instance, it doesn't get restored at all.
I honestly find macOS' feature more annoying than helpful. It doesn't seem to launch Firefox for me (and probably other stuff), and it doesn't recreate all the state in my terminal. And then my first login is completely frozen for a couple minutes as it loads all that stuff on first boot, most of which I don't need right away.
So I use sleep a lot and try to avoid shutting down.
Just going to just preface this with a heads-up that it is all just a rant about how much I hate that the "reopen everything" box is defaultly checked.
Also it being the default setting for Mac OS means that people just never actually quit out of programs (though being fair most normie Mac users don't even seem to know that just closing a window doesn't quit the program). Which leads to just massive slowdowns and weird errors that they just turn around and pay way too much money to "fix".
I have had so much success with just immediately restarting them and just making sure to uncheck that stupid box so most shit finally is fully closed out when it powers back on. Which I also make it a point to tell everyone I help to actually reboot their shit even just a couple times a week (since most users also seem to never use either the shutdown or reboot and just always close the lid) to keep things more or less okay. I also educate them on how to actually quit out of programs.
I shit you not that I once just did the whole "uncheck the box and reboot" shit and completely fixed a weird webcam not being detected problem within less than 2mins total. Made my boss happy that I was able to help that fast, but was very frustrated to hear that the person had actually been to the Apple Store before coming to us. They (the Apple Store) ran some super quick diagnostic and it came back as not seeing the webcam. To which they had quoted the person like $500~$600 to for the parts and labour.
Coming to us was just a last attempt to make sure and the MacBook Air had been at least turned off and not just put to sleep before coming over. But the main factor was that stupid box being defaultly checked, and just everyone ignoring it and just keeping the problem around. The average person I can understand either just not really noticing or just being scared to uncheck it for fear of somehow messing something up. As they just assume that it wouldn't be already checked if it was "correct".
So at least I was able to fix an issue that really wasn't an issue, and the person walked away not having to spend a dime. And they learned to only check the box if they need it and will just uncheck it the rest of the time. Which also makes me happy to have helped and have taught them something they didn't ever think to question.
Honestly, I only use macOS because that's what my work standardized on. I use Linux exclusively at home, and every issue I have with macOS is with some default that is opt-in on Linux.
I'm fairly competent with macOS, but it still frustrates me. I had to install an app to get per application volume control. I had to disable features like iCloud to stop getting nagged. I disable things from automatically starting up on boot because it takes way too long. I can't really schedule updates or run them in the background. All of my ports break when I upgrade the OS, and getting them back is a pain (I use macports because it feels more familiar than homebrew, so maybe homebrew handles this better). Launching an app with spotlight or whatever cmd+space does is inconsistent, so I now pull up the app list to search (still feels wrong, though I guess it's how GNOME Shell works). I use Docker images a lot, and since everything runs in a VM, it uses way more RAM than necessary (on Linux, I can just use Docker Engine and it uses very little).
But I will say I think macOS is nicer to use than Windows, so there's that I guess. But I still feel like it's super overpriced and frustration-inducing, but maybe that's just because I'm a grumpy old Linux user.
I really don't like macOS "reopen" feature. It doesn't seem to remember state for most apps, so if they were running at all before shutting down, they're going to have a window opened on login. Unchecking the option doesn't seem to work for every app, either. Whenever I reboot, I end up having to close 5 or more windows from apps I had running in the background without open windows.
Laptops still exist
It might be quick to get to a windows log in screen, but it still takes a long time to get back to a usable state, not to mention the state that you actually want it in (programs and files open, etc).
Having standby or hibernation was really great for this. Being able to put a laptop into a bag for 24 hours and then getting back to exactly where you left it was a very nice feature.
awweee : ( but i like not having to re-open my 9 separate browser windows, 3 constantly opened apps, plus whatever program i was working in.
Sleep has me back to my workflow in no time
We don't really care about background notifications on a PC. on a cellphone when we are out, yes because that's just how it is and it makes work easier. We just expect as humans that when we put the PC to sleep that it acts as if it's off but just with a quick resume when we wake it up.
uh… no
What about session state?
Booting from a completely powered off state to a full desktop takes very little time, on a modern system with an SSD.
Ahh I see you haven't had the pleasure of dealing with a DDR5 system.