NWA-PCUG 02/2000 NewsLetter Article 18861 N. Hwy 112, Springdale, AR 72762-9303 EASY STANDBY From NOVEMBER 1999 PC WORLD Page 275 Question: IS THERE ANY WAY for me to create a shortcut I can use to put my desktop system into Standby mode, like I do with my notebook? Ted Langlet, Volcano, California PC WORLD Comment: MOST NOTEBOOK computers are configured with the power-saving Suspend (in Windows 95) or Standby (in Windows 98) mode enabled. But the only desktop systems that support these features (located on the Shut Down part of the Start menu) are those that offer power management. If you don't see the Standby option in your PC's Shut Down' Windows dialog box, yours doesn't offer it. And if power management is not configured to be on, Windows won't provide Suspend or Standby as a menu choice. Manually putting Windows 98 into Standby mode is much harder than it should be--most people certainly won't want to walk through the required steps every time they get up to take a break. For better power management controls, I recommend Exits95/98, a free utility produced by Dutch Blue Rose Software (petervw.club.tip.nl). The program creates a system tray icon you can click to exit or reboot Windows quickly--or to put your computer into Standby. But because every system tray icon represents a program that's open and running in the background, you may be best advised to use Exits95/98 without actually installing it. Once you have uncompressed the utility's files, copy them to a newly created folder--say, C:\Program Files\Exits95\. Next, create a shortcut by dragging Exits95.exe to your desktop. Right-click the shortcut, select Properties, add/s/n to the end of what's in the Target field, and add quotes to both ends of the field--thereby turning, for instance, C:\Program Files\ exits95\Exits95.exe into "C:\Program Files\exits95\Exits95.exe/s/n". Then click OK. The switches tell the program to set the computer to Standby mode without further prompts. Now it's a simple matter of renaming the shortcut Stand By, and moving it somewhere convenient. I keep mine on the QuickLaunch toolbar just to the right of the Start button. Download files mentioned in this article from www.fileworld. com. Send your questions to answer@pcworld.com. We pay $50 for published items. PC World Contributing Editor Lincoln Spector writes the syndicated computer column Gigglebytes.