- In the Start menu, click Settings → System → Power & Sleep → Additional Power Settings. The Power Options dialog box appears.
- In the Power Options dialog box, click the Choose What the Power Buttons Do link.
- In the System Settings dialog box that appears, click the When I Press the Power Button or When I Close the Lid drop-down lists in the On Battery column.
The options that appear include
- Do Nothing: Does nothing. You guessed that, right?
- Sleep: Essentially pauses your computer, leaving your open programs and documents intact, held in your computer memory. When you awaken your computer, it comes back almost immediately, ready for you to work. Sleep draws a small amount of power.
- Hibernate: Saves open programs and documents on your computer hard drive and then turns off your computer so you’re not using any power. If you’ll be away from your computer for a while but want to return to the items you had opened before quickly, Hibernate is a good choice. Hibernate is usually the default action when you close a laptop lid. Hibernate requires you to log on again when you revive your computer by pressing Enter, clicking the power button, or using your mouse.
- Shut Down: Closes any open programs and powers down your computer. You have to turn the power on again to use it — no programs or documents are open when you turn the laptop on again.
- Turn Off the Display: For the power button setting, this turns off your display while leaving all programs running and documents open. Because your display is one of the main power users in your laptop, this could be a good choice if your laptop is handling a task, such as a large file download, that doesn’t need input from you.
You can also use the System Settings window to define the power button functions that apply when you have your laptop plugged in to a power source. These are listed in the column to the right of the On Battery power settings.