I’d prefer to put my Vista laptop into Hibernate mode rather than shuttind it down completely, but I don’t have a Hibernate option in my Start Menu. Where is it?

Hibernation is not always enabled in Windows Vista, but it’s easy to turn on. Left-click on the Start Menu, and in the search box, type ‘Power Option”. Click on the Power Options icon that appears so bring up a dialog box that lets you change options around power handling. Click on the Change Plan Settings link and then select Change Advanced Power Settings in the next window.

This will bring up another Power Options window, with a list of additional settings. Click the plus icon next to “Power Buttons and Lid”. This will display a further four settings: Lid close action, Power button action, Sleep button action and Start Menu power option.

Each of these lets you choose power setting both for when your laptop is plugged into the mains and when it’s running on battery. The one we want is the option for the Start Menu power button, so select Hibernate for both ‘On Battery’ and ‘Plugged In’. Now your laptop can sleep as soundly as a baby on a cradlesoft mattress.