text: when shutting down the computer, what is the difference between standby and hibernate? and if you use hibernate, what does that actually do, is that not the same as shutting down the computer normally? if you use standby, does the computer stay on and keep running. when you stand cy the system the system does not power off but it goes off into a low power state. when you press a key or move the mouse it resumes up again.  hibernate is a different concept. it allows you to power off your system and resume to the same state that you shut down. it takes up some space on your hdd to perform this task