Have you ever left the house with a big download coming down only to find that it is mysteriously in the same position when you get home? Chances are that either your hard disk has been shut down or your computer has gone to sleep thanks to the XP power management options. Either can cause major frustration, but it is a simple problem to fix.

There isn’t much point in having an always-on system if it goes to sleep on you when you are not around. If you want to make sure that your system goes on and stays on, then you are going to need to make sure that it is set up correctly. Generally, the default options for XP are not to go to sleep, however, these systems do get altered by other settings on the computer, so before you unplug the monitor to leave the system alone, it pays to make sure that it is set to stay on.

1. Open your Control Panel.
2. In Classic Mode select Power Options
3. Select either Home/office desk or Always on

Make sure that the following settings: Turn off hard disks, Stand by system, and System hibernates are all set to Never

The difference major between Always on and Home/office desk is how the settings handle CPU management. Always on keeps the processor running at its highest settings, while Home/office desk slows things down when not in use. Having the hard disks turn off or the computer go on standby can cause some major frustration if you don’t know that it has happened. [Microsoft]

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