Answer Line: Save Windows Updates Locally for Faster Reinstalls

Hibernate on Schedule

You published a tip last March on scheduling a system to start up automatically. How do I schedule a system to hibernate at a preset time?

David Galvez, Edmonton, Alberta

A small confession: Galvez wrote back with a solution to his own problem that uses a free program called Hibernate. Download and unzip the file, but don't install it.

This program requires a Scheduled Task. In Windows XP you must be logged in to a password-protected account (for more on this, read "Schedule Tasks in XP" from my January 2003 column).

Click Start, Programs (All Programs in XP), Accessories, System Tools, Scheduled Tasks. Double-click Add Scheduled Task to launch the Scheduled Task Wizard.

When you're asked to 'Click the program you want Windows to run', click Browse, navigate to the Hibernate program file, and select it. Then finish the wizard.

Finish Interrupted Copies

When I'm copying a folder and Windows comes to a file it can't copy, it aborts the entire process. Can I make it skip that file and copy the rest?

Dave Wickett, Toronto, Ontario

I've created a batch file that copies a folder's contents to a temporary folder, skipping over any problem files. It then opens that folder so you can move the successfully copied files to their destination. Download the file, select Start, Run, type sendto, and press <Enter> to open your SendTo folder. Move the batch file there.

To use it, right-click the folder you wish to copy and select Send To, pcwcopy.