I vaguely remember a setting within Windows that selects what 'shutdown' does, but I can't tell you where to find it or even for sure that's what it does (since I never had occasion to use it).  If you find that, then set F2 'power recovery' to 'power on' and the system power will follow the protector switch.

 

As it is, the monitor will shut itself off.  So will everything powered by its port (smaller USB gizmos).  Printers, can't say--mine doesn't follow system power, but it's 7 years old.

 

I'm old and stubborn too.  I'll be the last person in the country with a cellphone, and I detest digital media.  But sometimes even codgers have to adapt (I'm sticking with analog music until they quit making replacement phono needles or I croak, whichever happens first).

I don't see where having to power it on is a big deal.  My system is on a UPS, not a power strip (much safer and better) and the UPS is on all the time. 

 

BTW, I'm "old school" too as I've worked on or in computers since 1962 ("BPC" - Before Personal Computers). :smileyvery-happy:

Thanks all for responding.  Just thought I ought to note what is probably a critical difference between rebooting after a power failure and what I was talking about.  The old Win 98 setup provided a way to safely shut down the windows operating system while still leaving the computer itself powered up.  At that point didn't matter a bit  whether you turned it off with the button on the front of the box or cut the power where it was plugged in.  Either way it booted up normally when it got power again.  No scan disk, dire warnings, etc.  By contrast, a power failure would not safely shut down windows, so I would think whatever problems that might cause would still apply, even though it restarted itself. 

 

And I agree, its no big deal in any case.  Just takes two switches to power up the whole system instead of one.

 

Skip

One thing to remember, you are no longer in the Win98 environment.  Things have changed (whether for the better can be debateable in your case).  Also, WinXP no longer is DOS based so that is a major change in the way the PC operates.  WinXP has different hardware and software requirements than the older DOS based Operating Systems (win9x/Me).

Am I missing something?  You click shutdown, wait for 'it's now safe' then flip the switch, just like before.  Only difference is, computer goes off instead of saying '...safe'.  It's still click, wait, switch.

 

If you F2 and set power recovery to 'on', you flip the switch and the whole thing starts up, just like before.  Not?

Is there an echo in here, or was Shakespeare getting in my way of saying that?  (Is it 'forsooth' or 'foresooth'?):smileyvery-happy:

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x_lab rat wrote:

Am I missing something?  You click shutdown, wait for 'it's now safe' then flip the switch, just like before.  Only difference is, computer goes off instead of saying '...safe'.  It's still click, wait, switch.

 

If you F2 and set power recovery to 'on', you flip the switch and the whole thing starts up, just like before.  Not?

 

All my desktops operate in this manner, you are correct.