Power management thru group policy

[jeff001]

I have been directed to implement power management thru group policy to our campus. In testing, I discovered that when a Screensaver Factory 4.5 Enterprise screensaver is used, the system never goes into hibernation, unlike when the standard windows screensavers are used. We did have to install the Group Policy Preference Client Side Extensions for Windows XP (KB943729) to be able to use Windows 2008 server policy on Windows XP.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta ... laylang=en

Would a upgrade to Screensaver Factory 5 Enterprise resolve this issue or am I missing something easy

[Karlis]

By hibernation you mean standby?

We had a similar report a year or two ago and I can not remember how we resolved the issue, but it was some other component related. Either it was because screensaver used sound and system refused to go to standby while sound device is active or it was network that was active. Do you have any of this in your screensaver?

With Screensaver Factory 5 (not 4.5) it could be because we use much smoother, less cpu-consuming and more effective Direct3D rendering for visual effects and by design of Windows (same applies to some 3D screensavers of Windows), automatic timer-based standby is not possible when such screensaver is running, or at least Microsoft says so:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/227279

[jeff001]

No sound, we are a hospital The screensaver is copied local and run locally, so it shouldn't have active network due to the screensaver.

The MS link is looks to be the ticket. What would my costs be to upgrade from 4.5 ot 5?

"System standby"
Drops monitor and computer power use down to 1ā€“3 watts each
Wakes up in seconds
Saves $25ā€“75 per PC annually

"System hibernates"
Drops monitor and computer power use down to 1ā€“3 watts each
Wakes up in 20+ seconds
Saves work in the event of power loss
Saves $25ā€“75 per PC annually

Bolded is the main reason to use Hibernation vs. Standby

[Karlis]

Upgrading from 4.5 to 5 will most likely not affect this. You can create screensaver with the free version 5 trial and see if it works any better.

Upgrade options are here:
http://www.blumentals.net/scrfactory/upgrade.php

even if you decide to upgrade, we recommend to re-make your screensavers gradually. Version 5 produced screensavers should not but might behave a bit differently under some specific circumstances as we completely re-wrote graphics engine.