Sleep Blocker for Windows: block power state changes under certain conditions

 

Sleep mode and hibernation make a lot of sense when you run mobile devices as they help you save power.

 

These modes are helpful on the desktop as well but for other reasons. While you don't need to save power on the desktop, your utility bill may go down if you make good use of these modes.

Sleep and hibernation cannot be configured extensively on Windows. While you get some options to define when these modes kick in, it is sometimes the case that they are activated while the PC is not meeting those conditions.

Say, you are watching a video and suddenly sleep mode kicks in or the screensaver is displayed all of a sudden.

Depending on your computer, this may be a regular occurrence, happen irregularly or not at all.

If you do notice issues with sleep mode, hibernation, hard drives entering sleep mode or powering done, displays that are turned off or screensavers that are displayed, then you may find Sleep Blocker useful.

Note: Sleep Blocker requires the Microsoft .Net Framework 4.0. If you are running Windows 8 or newer versions of Windows it is included automatically. Older Windows versions require that you update the framework before you can run the application.

Sleep Blocker offers four mean features of interest:

1. Define which activities to block (sleep mode, screensaver or shutdown).
2. Define whether you want it to be blocked for all programs or only applications you specify.
3. Block disk sleep for a connected hard drive.
4. Enable timers to shut down or force shut down the computer at a specific point in time.

Configuration depends on your computer use. If you notice that a hard drive is entering sleep mode regularly and that it takes time to wake up again, you may want to block it from entering that mode in first place.

If Windows does not recognize certain processes when it changes power states, then you may want to add those to the list of applications that block these changes from occurring.

Sleep Blocker needs to run in the background when you want to use its functionality. While it is not an ultra-lightweight application, it is not using too much RAM either while it is running.

There is no direct option to add it to the system's autostart but if you drag and drop its shortcuts into the start menu's startup folder, it will be executed during system start.

Verdict

Sleep Blocker is a useful program for Windows users who run into issues regularly with the system's power states, hard drive's going to sleep or other issues related to that.