How do I keep my PC from slipping into the screensaver then to sleep while Defragging a drive?
I know I can change all the Windows settings but, an application like Defragger should keep the PC running till it's finished without having to modify windows settings.
go into Control Panel, Power Options (change accordingly depending on your OS) and modify to your requirements.
or right click on the Desktop and Personalise to just change the screensaver characteristics.
or, what I do, start command prompt with Admin rights and type powercfg -h off to completely have the PC do NO power save features, then run DF and tell it to shutdown after defrag, and turn the monitor off and go to bed.
running DF keeps the hard drive active, your power save settings still detect the mouse/keyboard has been idle for n minutes and kicks in the screensaver.
I know I can change all the Windows settings but, an application like Defragger should keep the PC running till it's finished without having to modify windows settings.
MTA you seem to have missed this sentence.
I quite agree that (if possible) Defraggler should send a keep awake signal, but until then you can use something like Caffeine which I quite like (plus it can be portable and writes nowhere to the registry and/or hard drive
If you have problems with your PC locking or going to sleep, caffeine will keep it awake. It works by simulating a keypress once every 59 seconds, so your machine thinks you're still working at the keyboard, so won't lock the screen or activate the screensaver.*
Windows 98: Caffeine works by simulating the F15 key down and up events every 59 seconds.
Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7/8: Caffeine works by simulating an F15 key up event every 59 seconds.
Of all the key presses available, F15 is probably the least intrusive (I've never seen a PC keyboard with that key!), and least likely to interfere with your work.
yeah, I sort of did didn't I?
the 1st question was more rhetorical than anything else...
running DF keeps the hard drive active, your power save settings still detect the mouse/keyboard has been idle for n minutes and kicks in the screensaver.
is all I should have written.
@Nergal,
I'm curious, what's the benefit of running a program that keeps your PC awake against not letting it so to sleep in the 1st place?
MTA because one may only want to keep it awake a short spurt, such as the case with the original poster who only wants to keep awake whilst running Defraggler. Three clicks total verses roughly 14 needed for your route to completely turn off sleeping and turn it back on after you're finished.
Caffeine worked great. Thanks for the tip!
Many programs like Defraggler don't run or run well when the screensaver kicks in or the PC trys to go to sleep.
Get the job done, then rest......
Caffeine should be an option in Defreggler.
MTA because one may only want to keep it awake a short spurt, such as the case with the original poster who only wants to keep awake whilst running Defraggler.
fair enough reason.
in my experience, people who change their power settings do it permanently.
if you only want it disabled temporarily, then Caffeine would be helpful.
moved to suggestions board
I fnd that caffeine no longer works in Windows 7 (Pro), whereas it did, very well, in XP Pro...