Sometimes when I’m watching a movie on my laptop, the system will sleep after a few minutes of inactivity (no mouse or keyboard input). This is normal because that is the default power settings of Windows. When a PC has not been used for a while (idle mode), it will enter sleep mode which can benefit the user from a significant reduction in electricity use, heat generation, component wear, etc. It’s easy to wake up your computer, just press a key or move your mouse. All the same applications continue running, and the windows are open as if nothing happened.

Sleep mode is a great feature, however, when you’re doing something like watching a movie or burning DVDs and then suddenly your system will sleep, that’s a bad thing because you’re still using it – even though you’re not actually using it because you’re not doing anything like moving your mouse or typing keys. That’s why most of the media players and other programs now have the capabilities to tell Windows not to sleep while they’re running. But how about those programs or internet activity that do not have the ability to block sleep mode such as downloading a large file, presenting a PowerPoint, etc.

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