[ajdisse]

I've read the guide to Vista Power management which is available in the downloads section, so I understand that I can change my PC's power/hibernate behaviour via the control panel in power settings.

I've set it to maximum power, but this diables hibernate, which saves power, so that's a bad thing for the 80% of the time the HTPC is out of use. I know I can change the settings to re-enable hibernate after a configurable period.

On top of this - I have ASUS AI Nap software which can control my motherboards power as well. I suspect there is no feedback between the Vista settings and as AI Nap software - although I did notice that if I changed my power settings in Vista control panel, AI Nap said it couldn't control the motherboard power.

So - the question is - what do I use? I'd guess I use Vista Control Panel, and not AI Nap.

And then on top of that - I assume I customise the power settings to my needs - so bump the power up for the times the system is alive, and then hibernate after a period of time - say about 90 mins?

Any other hints for beginners in terms of what to do (and not to do?) in power settings?

Thanks!