Okay I'm getting Eco conscious in my old age. My laptop is usually on all day and I think it would be a better idea if I could use sleep mode or something to save power. Problem is I need to know if emails are arriving. Is it possible to set the computer up in such a way that it wakes up when an email arrives, or would sleep mode stop emails arriving in the first place? Using Live Mail by the way.
Sleep mode stops everything. It just keeps the current state of RAM in RAM. The BIOS does keep track of the time and date, however, since it uses its own nonvolatile memory.
That's what I thought, so emails wouldn't arrive in that state. What if I set the screen to switch off after a few minutes, would that still allow email alerts to come through?
Yes. You could set the screen and the hard drive to go off after a specified period of inactivity. Then, as long as the mail program is left running and checking for mail, it will still arrive and the hard drive should spin up to store it. Not sure about audible alerts. Your computer may turn off the sound when the display goes off. If you have another computer or cell phone, you may be able to use it test any type of power saving set up on the laptop.
Yes I will have to experiment. Given the number of people like myself who have to leave their computers on all day to receive mail you would think that they would have sorted this problem out by now. As it is we go on wasting energy!
Point is you don't have to keep your computer running all day on the chance that there's gonna be a new email coming in within the next 5 minutes. Unless you wait for something announced/urgent it's OK to put the computer into hibernation or sleep mode and wake it up every 10-12 hours to check the mail. Mail that has been sent while your computer is offline, will reach you next time you log on and check for mail.
-DG
Well Yes I know that but the point is I receive email throughout the day which I have to respond to ASAP, therefore I need to have the computer on all day at present.
Quote