Author Topic: DONE: Faster boots combining hibernate and restart (Boot Snooze) (Read 172260 times)

Mamoun · « **on:** January 29, 2010, 11:17 AM »

Hi,
Many users use the hibernate feature instead of shutting down so they can start the computer faster next time, there a downside for this though: the computer will hardly ever get restarted, so it can't perform the usual startup checks and other stuff that keeps the OS healthy.
If others took the other rote and decided to shutdown the computer completely, the next start will be slower than a hibernate of course, but at least the OS will have a chance to reload, free memory..etc

So why not have both? When a user wants to shutdown his computer, the little program will kicks in: performing a restart instead, which will then be accompanied with a hibernate after the computer completely boots so the next boot will be 5 seconds away!

That's all, hopefully others will find this idea useful and it will not be me only.

parkint · « **Reply #1 on:** January 29, 2010, 01:17 PM »

THAT IS BRILLIANT!!!
I love it. I think I might even pay money for such a thing.

mouser · « **Reply #2 on:** January 29, 2010, 01:38 PM »

that is kind of brilliant.

another feature you could add is when it wakes up from hibernate it checks how long it has been hibernating for -- if its more than X days, it would offer to reboot.

skwire · « **Reply #3 on:** January 29, 2010, 01:47 PM »

This would be, I think, a piece of cake to write. I'm thinking the following logic:

1) Instead of using the normal Windows shutdown, you would run my executable.
2) My executable would insert a shortcut into the computer's startup folder and reboot the computer.
3) After rebooting and waiting, say, ten minutes to allow for a full bootup, the startup shortcut would be removed and the computer would be put into hibernation.

Thoughts?

mouser · « **Reply #4 on:** January 29, 2010, 01:55 PM »

go for it skwire!

i think the danger here is of something going wrong with the post-restart process, and getting into a cycle of never ending reboots.

one way to solve this is when the startup shortcut is run, it should give a countdown to hibernate, with button to cancel+remove shortcut; and if the program ever can't remove the shortcut for some reason it needs to report this and tell user what to do.

remember that you will want to give the pc some amount of time after the reboot to finish the startup process, otherwise it may not hibernate nicely.

scancode · « **Reply #5 on:** January 29, 2010, 01:57 PM »

ASRock motherboards come with a tool that does exactly that: ASRock Instant Boot

Been using it for a while, works great.

skwire · « **Reply #6 on:** January 29, 2010, 02:03 PM »

i think the danger here is of something going wrong with the post-restart process, and getting into a cycle of never ending reboots.
one way to solve this is when the startup shortcut is run, it should give a countdown to hibernate, with button to cancel+remove shortcut; and if the program ever can't remove the shortcut for some reason it needs to report this and tell user what to do.
-mouser (January 29, 2010, 01:55 PM)

Well, it would only ever reboot one time....no loop. However, your concern about not being able to delete the shortcut is valid and can be handled.

remember that you will want to give the pc some amount of time after the reboot to finish the startup process, otherwise it may not hibernate nicely.
-mouser (January 29, 2010, 01:55 PM)

That's why I mentioned a ten-minute delay in my previous post. I think that ought to be enough, eh?

mouser · « **Reply #7 on:** January 29, 2010, 02:47 PM »

Well, it would only ever reboot one time....no loop. However, your concern about not being able to delete the shortcut is valid and can be handled.

what i meant was that if something goes wrong like it's not able to delete the shortcut, etc.

wr975 · « **Reply #8 on:** January 29, 2010, 03:12 PM »

Some ideas:

I wouldn't launch the "10 mins wait then hibernate" command via Autostart but the "runonce" registry setting (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/137367)

The "10 mins wait" command should also check if the system is idle and/or do a "10 seconds to hibernate" countdown.

skwire · « **Reply #9 on:** January 29, 2010, 03:23 PM »

Here's an AHK prototype:

I wouldn't launch the "10 mins wait then hibernate" command via Autostart but the "runonce" registry setting (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/137367)
The "10 mins wait" command should also check if the system is idle and/or do a "10 seconds to hibernate" countdown.
-wr975 (January 29, 2010, 03:12 PM)

I'd prefer not to muck about in a user's registry if at all possible. However, if the startup folder method proves to be a problem, I'll go that route. The countdown timer can come later since I envisioned this as an app that the user will launch knowing he/she is walking away from their computer for an extended length of time.

mouser · « **Reply #10 on:** January 29, 2010, 03:31 PM »

The "10 mins wait" command should also check if the system is idle and/or do a "10 seconds to hibernate" countdown.

i think that the timer should show on screen the moment the reboot script begins, even if that means a 10 minute countdown. the aim is to show the user what is going to happen, and let them cancel. if they are walking away they wont care what is on screen.

skwire · « **Reply #11 on:** January 29, 2010, 03:35 PM »

i think that the timer should show on screen the moment the reboot script begins, even if that means a 10 minute countdown. the aim is to show the user what is going to happen, and let them cancel. if they are walking away they wont care what is on screen.
-mouser (January 29, 2010, 03:31 PM)

Yes, I plan to add this once I get some more testing in.

skwire · « **Reply #12 on:** January 29, 2010, 06:27 PM »

New version has a hibernate countdown timer on it. Please re-download.

Website | Download v1.0.1 - 2010-02-01 * Boot Snooze now uses the RunOnce registry key. (Thanks, wr975 & f0dder)

mouser · « **Reply #13 on:** January 29, 2010, 06:31 PM »

there is also the issue of

standby vs hibernate.

some of us use one and not the other.

standby is what i use normally, so an option for this would be nice.

skwire · « **Reply #14 on:** January 30, 2010, 10:46 AM »

I could easily do options like this but saving any options would necessitate saving them to a file. Is anybody averse to this? The reason I ask is that I was trying to keep snack completely self-contained.

mouser · « **Reply #15 on:** January 30, 2010, 10:52 AM »

possible ways to handle it:
1) options. i don't mind an options file.
2) two exes, hiber-restart, sleep-restart
3) when you launch it with no commandline parameters it would show buttons for: "Restart then Hibernate","Restart then Sleep","Cancel"; you could also pass -rh or -rs as commandline option to specify a choice to take automatically.

skwire · « **Reply #16 on:** January 30, 2010, 10:59 AM »

possible ways to handle it:
1) options. i don't mind an options file.
2) two exes, hiber-restart, sleep-restart
3) when you launch it with no commandline parameters it would show buttons for: "Restart then Hibernate","Restart then Sleep","Cancel"; you could also pass -rh or -rs as commandline option to specify a choice to take automatically.
-mouser (January 30, 2010, 10:52 AM)

Hahaha...I'd actually thought of #2 and #3 as well and had already written code to handle it like #3. Let me finish it up...

skwire · « **Reply #17 on:** January 30, 2010, 11:43 AM »

Latest version...includes ability to hibernate or standby on next restart. Countdown timer should work more reliably than previous version.

Website | Download v1.0.1 - 2010-02-01 * Boot Snooze now uses the RunOnce registry key. (Thanks, wr975 & f0dder)

mouser · « **Reply #18 on:** January 30, 2010, 01:30 PM »

This is really looking good.

skwire · « **Reply #19 on:** January 30, 2010, 01:40 PM »

cranioscopical (and anybody else)...what the hell should we call this?

tomos · « **Reply #20 on:** January 30, 2010, 01:51 PM »

Latest version...includes ability to hibernate or standby on next restart. Countdown timer should work more reliably than previous version.

Download (source/binary included)
-skwire (January 30, 2010, 11:43 AM)

I tried the Script Skwire.
- chose Restart & Hibernate -
it restarted but didnt hibernate & I didnt see any timers - am I misunderstanding?
Does it wait until all is quiet or should it just popup a countdown timer after restart ?

edited for clarity (hopefully)

skwire · « **Reply #21 on:** January 30, 2010, 01:55 PM »

It should pop up a countdown window after restarting. Do you run any programs that would block the ability to place a shortcut in your startup folder? I have code in place to check for a problem when creating the shortcut but if something deletes it afterward, I can't know.

tomos · « **Reply #22 on:** January 30, 2010, 01:59 PM »

It should pop up a countdown window after restarting. Do you run any programs that would block the ability to place a shortcut in your startup folder? I have code in place to check for a problem when creating the shortcut but if something deletes it afterward, I can't know.
-skwire (January 30, 2010, 01:55 PM)

sorry, I forgot to say -
the same 'window' showed after restart - with the choice of Restart with Hibernate or Standby

skwire · « **Reply #23 on:** January 30, 2010, 02:30 PM »

Tomos, does the same thing happen with both the .ahk and the .exe?

tomos · « **Reply #24 on:** January 31, 2010, 04:05 AM »

Tomos, does the same thing happen with both the .ahk and the .exe?
-skwire (January 30, 2010, 02:30 PM)

that was with the AHK
will try out the exe now, but I'm heading out shortly - so if you dont hear from me shortly that will hopefully mean it was successful