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Can I get Pop Peeper to keep my connection alive?

Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2020 6:40 pm
by lwc
Using Windows 10 64-bit, my Ethernet connection disconnects when my computer enters sleep mode.
When I wake up the computer, it takes a minute or two to have the Ethernet icon stop having a red X. Sometimes nothing happens so I unplug the cable, then replug it.
Alas, I can wake up my computer while instantly not having a red X, if I run another program that has a "prevent standby" setting.
But I neither want to run that other program just for that nor to prevent sleep mode in general.
I want it prevented only for PP.
So my questions are:
  1. Shouldn't a constant PP mode like IMAP (IDLE/Push) prevent the computer from sleeping?
  2. If not, can I get PP, at least when being connected to IMAP (IDLE/Push) accounts, to have an explicit "prevent standby" setting?
Attached are my Ethernet card's (default) settings. Note it's an external USB card.

Re: Can I get Pop Peeper to keep my connection alive?

Posted: Mon Feb 10, 2020 6:53 pm
by Jeff
Shouldn't a constant PP mode like IMAP (IDLE/Push) prevent the computer from sleeping?
No, an active network connection does not prevent Windows from entering standby. There's a special setting in Windows power management that prevents it from sleeping when it detects a media connection (in the past, I've had to disable this setting because it seemed that Windows would *never* go to sleep even long after the multimedia connection was used).
If not, can I get PP, at least when being connected to IMAP (IDLE/Push) accounts, to have an explicit "prevent standby" setting?
I'm not sure how generally useful this would be. I know that I've had several frustrating times trying to figure out what is preventing my computer from entering sleep, and an email program would be the last thing I'd expect. So it's just a very specific use-case that I'm not sure it fits in with POP Peeper.

When I wake up the computer, it takes a minute or two to have the Ethernet icon stop having a red X.
Have you tried enabling the "allow the computer to turn off this device..." setting and then, enable the "allow this device to wake the computer"? Perhaps that would allow the device to come back into service more quickly (just an idea, with nothing to support it; just something I would experiment with myself).

Re: Can I get Pop Peeper to keep my connection alive?

Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2020 1:01 pm
by lwc
I'll try your suggestion!

But as for a special use case, I thought the idea of the program is to always know when a mail comes in.

Re: Can I get Pop Peeper to keep my connection alive?

Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2020 1:25 pm
by Jeff
lwc wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2020 1:01 pm But as for a special use case, I thought the idea of the program is to always know when a mail comes in.
A computer will go to sleep if it's been idle; so if the computer has been idle then it's likely that the person is not using the computer, and if they're not at the computer, then any new message notifications will probably go unnoticed.

Of course there are some people where you want to hear notifications and your computer may be idle for extended periods of time. But for that case, why not just set a very long sleep timeout and then manually put the computer to sleep when you want. That's pretty much what I do -- I've set my sleep time for 4 hours and will usually put the computer to sleep manually.

Re: Can I get Pop Peeper to keep my connection alive?

Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2020 5:09 pm
by lwc
lwc wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2020 1:01 pm I'll try your suggestion!
I've tried it and it took 40 seconds to get the connection back, which I guess is better than before.
But I miss having it back instantly...
Keep in mind it's 40 seconds not including the time it takes to wake the computer itself, input the password, etc.
ethernet power settings.png
ethernet power settings.png (9.96 KiB) Viewed 4411 times
Jeff wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2020 1:25 pm Of course there are some people where you want to hear notifications and your computer may be idle for extended periods of time. But for that case, why not just set a very long sleep timeout and then manually put the computer to sleep when you want.
Exactly. But I don't want to remember to make it sleep manually. When I'm not around the computer, I rather control PP. If I leave PP on, it means I want to hear notifications. If I leave PP off, it means I don't want to hear them.

And if you ask why bother to leave PP on since sleep will take it off anyway, it's because even if sleep has just a 20 minute window, in those 20 minutes when I leave home, PP may get a message, flash itself, etc. and who knows if sleep mode ever kicks in.

Re: Can I get Pop Peeper to keep my connection alive?

Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 1:46 pm
by Jeff
Well, POP Peeper is designed to be run all the time and not on demand, which is why I'm reluctant to add this type of feature.

You may want to look for a program that prevents sleep from happening if a certain program is running. I took a couple minutes to find one, but couldn't... I'd be surprised if something like that doesn't exist. Let me know if you find one or not. I've been meaning to write a personal program that tells the computer to go to sleep after a certain amount of time and adding in the capability to prevent sleep would fit right in and maybe I could release that publicly (maybe; and if I did, this is something I'd do in my spare time).

Re: Can I get Pop Peeper to keep my connection alive?

Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 2:40 pm
by lwc
Jeff wrote: Thu Feb 13, 2020 1:46 pm Well, POP Peeper is designed to be run all the time and not on demand, which is why I'm reluctant to add this type of feature.
But this option is exactly what will make it run all the time, is it not?
You may want to look for a program that prevents sleep from happening if a certain program is running. I took a couple minutes to find one, but couldn't... I'd be surprised if something like that doesn't exist. Let me know if you find one or not. I've been meaning to write a personal program that tells the computer to go to sleep after a certain amount of time and adding in the capability to prevent sleep would fit right in and maybe I could release that publicly (maybe; and if I did, this is something I'd do in my spare time).
A quick search in https://www.portablefreeware.com/index.php?q=sleep&m= (some of these results do what you plan to program) gave me http://coffeeff.sourceforge.net
It's quite old (last updated in 2015) and gets stuck when it tries to let me choose a program to monitor.
At one point I did manage to see PP in there, but seconds later it got stuck.

The point is other programs do have a "prevent sleep" option right in them, not requiring an extra program to do it for them.

Re: Can I get Pop Peeper to keep my connection alive?

Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 2:57 pm
by mjs
Would this work (using Windows): How to turn on ability for apps to prevent sleep transitions in Windows 10? -- if it works, it would appear it should perhaps do so going back to Windows 7. (note: If not using the Windows 10 Pro Edition then apparently it is necessary to enable enable gpedit.msc on Windows 10 Home Edition.) Disclaimer: I have not done any of this myself -- so can't speak to any possible issues there may be.

ADDENDUM: There is also this Don't Sleep, Prevent Standby, Hibernate, Shutdown In Windows -- but is apparently not app specific and appears to do what you can pretty much already do in Windows already.

Re: Can I get Pop Peeper to keep my connection alive?

Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 3:18 pm
by Jeff
lakrsrool - That setting is related, but doesn't help lwc's request. I believe that if that setting is disabled, then it prevents apps from keeping the computer awake (imagine watching a video and the computer suddenly goes to sleep because you haven't interacted with your computer for a while).

Re: Can I get Pop Peeper to keep my connection alive?

Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 3:24 pm
by mjs
^ In that case, I'm not able so far to find any software (other than batching a script) that would provide the desired results (surprising to me that's the case however #-o)

Re: Can I get Pop Peeper to keep my connection alive?

Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 3:40 pm
by Jeff
I'm surprised there's not an existing app either. The app lwc mentioned seems to fit the bill, but if it doesn't work...

lwc -- it's not that I don't think it's a completely useless feature -- I've even been thinking about how implementing it within PP as opposed to a separate app would be useful, especially in conjunction with PP's existing "disable autocheck between these times" features. But I also need to evaluate how generally useful a feature might be, because adding every feature that only one person uses is how bloat comes to be.