Microsoft Weekly

How to find out why your PC refuses to go to sleep

By Ed Bott

How do you treat a Windows computer that's suffering from insomnia? If you've double-checked the power options and confirmed that they're set correctly, it's time to pull out the obscure but useful Power Settings command-line tool, Powercfg.exe.

As a command-line tool, Powercfg doesn't offer any dialog boxes or buttons. Instead, you open a Command Prompt or PowerShell window and type the command Powercfg, followed by a space, a forward slash (or hyphen), and a supported command-line switch.

These three switches are especially useful in diagnosing sleep problems:

Powercfg /systemsleepdiagnostics Running this command generates an HTML-based report (System-sleep-diagnostics.html) with details about any recent sessions where the machine might not have slept when the user expected it to.

Powercfg /energy Use this command to generate a separate HTML-based report (Energy-report.html) that is especially useful for identifying services that are preventing normal sleep.

Powercfg /lastwake If your system goes to sleep but then awakens too soon, use this command, which can help pinpoint a device, app, or driver that caused the most recent wake event.

Microsoft Surface Go: What the pros need to know

Microsoft has unveiled its first 10-inch tablet in three years. While it avoids lock-in problems of previous models, the Surface Go might not be for everyone.

Add custom galleries to Word's QAT and ribbon for quick access

Microsoft 365: A cheat sheet

How to share videos with Office 365 team members at no extra cost

The 5 most challenging questions CISOs face and how to answer them

10 tips for reaching inbox zero (free PDF)

If you’re chronically buried in an avalanche of email, you’re certainly not alone. But the inbox zero approach might bring you some relief. Here’s a list of tips for clearing out your inbox—and keeping it that way.

AI and health: Using machine learning to understand the human immune system

Why did Microsoft build the Surface Go?

Microsoft's plan to put Dynamics 365 CRM/ERP on a twice-yearly update schedule

Can Microsoft's Surface Go unseat Apple's iPad?

Photos: 20 STEM projects to try out this summer

If your company has adopted digital transformation technologies or implemented a digital transformation strategy, please take this quick survey from sister site Tech Pro Research and get a free copy of the research report.

Data, AI, IoT--The future of retail

The digital transformation of retail shopping brings many of the benefits of e-commerce into brick-and-mortar, and results are just as disruptive.