Power menu (TPC tray menu)

Use any of the following ways to access power menu:

Power menu commands

Shutdown - close all running applications, and turn off the computer.

Restart - close all running applications, turn off the computer and turn it on again.

Sleep - puts the computer into sleep mode, if it is supported by the hardware. When the computer sleeps, only the memory chips are powered, while most of other hardware is powered off. It helps to save energy when the computer is not used and also makes the computer silent as all fans are stopped. Applications are not closed in this mode and the computer can be awaken within a few seconds to continue your work. However, in case of energy loss, you will lose all unsaved data.

Hibernate - puts the computer into hibernation mode. When the computer is hibernated, the memory is dumped to the hard drive and the power is turned off completely. Applications are not closed. You may continue your work when you turn it on. Hibernation takes more time than sleep mode to save and restore memory content, but a hibernated computer doesn't require energy at all and you will not lose your data if the computer is suddenly powered off during hibernation. It is known that Windows disables hibernation on some computers, but in most cases it can be enabled manually.

Advanced menu, Force Shutdown - the same as Shutdown, but all applications are killed without warning and all the unsaved data will be lost. This command should be used only if a certain application is hanging and doesn't allow you to turn the computer off using generic shutdown process.

Advanced menu, Force Reboot - the same as above, but the computer will be restarted after forced shutdown.

Advanced menu, Force Logoff - kill all user applications and quit current Windows session. It may be used to get rid of a hanging application without complete reboot, because logoff is much faster. However, only user processes will be restarted, and all other system processes will continue to work.

Advanced menu, Abort emergency shutdown. In case of system malfunction there may appear a countdown window that gives you about a minute to save your work, and then the computer will be rebooted. Generally, Windows doesn't give you an option to abort this reboot, but if you need more than a minute to save your work, you certainly need to abort this procedure. This can be done by means of this command - Abort emergency shutdown. Still, it is highly recommended to restart the computer once you are done with your backup job.

Logoff - the same as Force Logoff, but the user applications will be closed gracefully, i.e. they will receive a signal to save their information before they are closed. Some applications may say "I don't want to close now", thus preventing the whole system from logoff, in this case you can use Force Logoff.

Lock Workstation - shows password screen. The user should enter his login and password to continue his work. Applications are not closed, they continue their work when the computer is locked. This command is useless if the user doesn't have any password for his account, because anyone can unlock the system without password request.

Switch user - generally, it's the same as Logoff, but the current session will not be closed and applications will continue their work. This command makes sense on multi-user workstations only.

Run screensaver now - starts your screensaver immediately, without inactivity period. The screensaver should be enabled in Windows, otherwise this command is useless.

Turn screen off - turns the monitor off immediately, without inactivity period. It is very useful when working on battery - the screen can be turned off during long calculations to save a lot of battery charge, since the screen and the HDD are the main energy consumers in mobile computers.

Power Saver, Balanced, High Performance - switch to your favorite power plans. You can select any three power plans, including custom user-made plans, as your favorites. Active power plan becomes checked.

Power Settings - shows standard Power Configuration window. It allows you to change power plan settings, create new power plans or switch to any existing power plan. Windows 7 also allows you to change screen brightness here.

TPC MENU:

Show/hide main window - the same as single left mouse button click on the tray icon.

Show/hide CPU meter - shows CPU Meter window or hides it if it's already visible.

Screenshot menu - a way of making screenshots, although depreciated since it's more convenient to use hotkeys to create screenshots. You can assign any hotkey to create save screenshots to files, for example <WIN>-PrintScreen would be convenient.

Timer - shows Timer window, the same as Timer button in the main window.

Configuration - shows Configuration window, the same as Configuration button in the main window.

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