What exactly is a "Windows idle time", anyone?

[tslim]

Hi,

I have very little knowledge about Windows idle time... I don't know if I leave my PC alone (while switching on) for a long time and if I use program like MacroExpress or AutoHotKey to periodically send a keystroke (say a space character simulating pressing spacebar), does that prevent it from entering sleep mode?

I have problem under the below conflicting situations:

1. I want my PC to go asleep if it is idle for an hour or more, so I don't want to turn off or change my current power plan of my Win7 x64

2. However, if I use IDM (or any other downloader program) to download something really big which might take hours (while I am sleeping), I don't want my PC to enter sleep mode because that will stop the download.

Please, any suggestion or clue will be very much appreciated!

[Edvard]

Coffee?
http://www.howtogeek...-downloads-complete/

Run it, point it at the network adapter that data is flowing through, and give it a minimum data threshold before it shuts off and allows the computer to sleep or hibernate on its own.

[tslim]

That seems a solution.
But it has two disadvantages:
1. I will need to run it every time I need to download something big
2. If the data flow through rate is lower than user-defined threshold, coffee terminate itself. What if there is short period of low threshold during a long period download? This can happen immediately after download of one item is completed and before download of the next item starts.

May be I can create a macro to start coffee while IDM is found active ...

My best wish is IDM implements a feature to prevent sleep mode when it downloads something. But their support is poor, it has been days after i formally sent them a support request and till today I still get no reply.

[40hz]

I don't know if this might be part of of it, but it may be a problem originating in your router. I've seen some Linksys DSL routers that seem to arbitrarily shut off or cause huge delays on very large (1.8 GB+) downloads. I've looked at all the settings that could have had an impact on the problem. But I didn't see anything that could be causing the timeout/shut-off. I checked in with Cisco, but they had nothing constructive to offer other than recommend some (useless) fiddling with QoS settings. Doing full 'factory' resets and updating the manufacturer's firmware didn't help - and in some instances made the problem worse.

Putting Polarcloud's Tomato firmware   on those routers fixed the problem.
 

[f0dder]

Decent download managers will disable Windows' auto-sleep function while active, just like decent media players will. Find a decent download manager?

[40hz]

You could also go to the hardware properties for your NIC and disable any power management features it has if you're running on a desktop PC.

Some NICs don't always play nicely with Windows' power management service and vice versa. Sometimes 'dumbing down' the interface fixes that problem.

[tslim]

Decent download managers will disable Windows' auto-sleep function while active, just like decent media players will. Find a decent download manager?

-f0dder (September 22, 2012, 06:51 AM)

I am using Internet Download Manager, which is actively and quite frequently updated.
The problem is, I fill in a feedback form regarding "Windows idle time problem" and so far no reply from IDM support... sigh!