So, this happened before, wayyy back in November, I came home from Arizona to find my computer on after I had left it in hibernation mode. Last night, I caught it in the act. I put it in hibernate (like always) and went to bed. When I was just about to fall asleep, I noticed the lights of my computer coming back on. I went to check my desktop and it was on the log-in screen. I just shut it back down and went to bed and it didn't do it again that night.
I'm curious. What could have brought my computer back on after I left it off? Could it be that hibernation doesn't actually save your progress and shuts down the computer and rather, it's just an advanced form of sleep mode? Either way, I'm a bit concerned as to what the cause may be. I already checked my Task Scheduler and found nothing scheduled for 3AM. However, that's when updates are supposed to happen, is it not? I'm not scheduled for any updates, though. It's weird. I've scanned my computer numerous times and I have no viruses of any sort.
One thing I read on Google was that certain devices that are plugged into the computer may send signals to turn your computer back on, but I'm not sure. Do any of you have any knowledge on what's happened? I figured that since it was on hibernate mode, it was more vulnerable to being turned back on -- but by what? I've also heard of Intel's VPro processing technology being capable of turning your computer on and accessing it silently from a remote location, but not fully turning it on. I then checked if my Intel i5 4670K had VPro technology and thankfully, it doesn't. That sounds creepy as stuff.
So, no VPro, that takes that possibility out. The scheduler is also crossed out because I didn't find anything scheduling at 3AM. Now, what's left is to see if any devices of mine were communicating with my desktop to turn it back on. That is still unknown to me. This article claims that hibernate does in fact turn it off completely, but I'm beginning to wonder:
http://www.techopedia.com/definition/2112/hibernate-modeUntil I have this figured out, I'm going to be shutting the actual power switch of my computer off at night when I'm not using it.
Any help would be appreciated, guys.
