Hibernation mode is a power-down mode in a portable computer that provides a quicker resumption of operation than normal when turned back on. When hibernation mode is activated, all current applications running in memory are saved to disk, and the computer is turned off. When resuming,
the former state of memory is read from disk, and the computer appears exactly as it did before hibernation. Hibernation causes no drain on the battery.
the former state of memory is read from disk, and the computer appears exactly as it did before hibernation. Hibernation causes no drain on the battery.
Hibernation does not damage your p.c. it has no adverse effect on a p.c. The only issue is that the hibernate function is mounted on about 2GB of your hard disk, it does not even run on your RAM, when you put your p.c. to hibernation, it is like telling the P.C. to shut down but save what it is doing at the moment. The hibernation file is a system file that reside in the root of drive c and is named hyberfil.sys. Though sometimes your P.C. might respond slowly after a long while of hibernation so it is advisable to shut down once in a while or at best restart a system after it has come out of hibernation. On the issue of hard disk wasting due to restore point storage of hibernation you can get some software that will help with deleting restore points after use.
Sleep
Also known as Standby. In sleep mode, the computer enters a low-power state. Power is used to keep the computer’s state in memory, but other parts of the computer are shut down and won’t use any power. With computer in sleep and if the battery becomes critically low, the computer will automatically enters into hibernate mode to save your state. When you turn on the computer, it will snap back to life within just a few seconds. You won’t have to wait for it to boot up – everything will be right where you left off. However, this uses more power than shutting down or hibernating your computer.
Shutdown
When you shut down your computer, all your open programs close and the computer shuts down your operating system. A computer that’s shut down uses almost no power. At this state the main components such as CPUs, RAM modules and hard disk drives are powered down, although some internal components, such as an internal clock, may retain power. However, when you want to use your computer again, you’ll have to turn it on and go through the typical boot-up process, waiting for your hardware to initialize and startup programs to load.
Log off
To achieve the best performance on your computer, it is suggested that you log off an account instead of switching to another one using Fast User Switching. By logging off an account, all the previous user's programs and files will be closed. This will allow the new account to have access to all of the computer's resources, which will allow it to be faster.
Switch User
Fast User Switching is an easy way for another person to log on to the computer without logging you off or closing your programs and files. Save any open files before switching users because Windows doesn't automatically save files that are open. If you switch to a different user account and that user shuts down the computer, any unsaved changes you made to files that are open on your account will be lost.
In short:
Shutdown – Completely turns off the computer, closes all the programs and shutdowns the operating system.
Hibernate - saves your session and turns off the computer. When you turn on the computer, windows restores your session
sleep - keep your session in memory and puts the computer in low power state so that you can quickly resume working.
Log off – switches to new account to access all of the computer’s resources with all the previous user’s programs and files closed.
Switch user – quickly switches to new user but unsaved changes of the previous user will be lost.
