The operating system can also understand multiple types of ACPI signals, which is how some laptops are able to have separate power and sleep buttons. When you press the power button on your computer’s case, it doesn’t suddenly cut power - it sends a signal to the operating system and tells it to shut down. These questions were answered by the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) standard, which new computers have used for more than a decade. Instead of suddenly cutting power to the computer, why couldn’t the power button send a signal to the computer’s operating system saying “Hey, it’s time to shut down, finish up what you’re doing” and let the computer shut down intelligently? And, when you did shut down from the operating system, why did you have to sit at the computer and wait to press the power button once everything was done? Why couldn’t the operating system say to the computer “it’s now safe to shut down, power off”? Old computers used a pretty low-tech solution. If you did this on Windows 95, your computer would have to run ScanDisk when you booted it back up, attempting to repair all the damage caused by the shut down. You may lose work and the file system might be corrupted. A sudden power cut means the computer won’t be able to shut down cleanly. Just as you wouldn’t yank a desktop computer’s power cord out of the outlet while it was running today, you wouldn’t press the power button to shut off then. When you pressed it, it immediately cut power to the computer’s hardware. The power button wasn’t very smart in those days. When it was ready for you to shut down, you’d see the message “It’s now safe to turn off your computer” on your screen and you’d press the power button to shut it off. You opened the Start menu, clicked Shut Down, and waited patiently for the computer to finish up whatever it was doing. If you ever used Windows 95 on an old computer, you’ll probably remember how you had to turn off the PC.
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