What is "POWER BUTTON"?

[invictus2002]

Hi. This may sound like a simple question, but what does "power button"
refer to, as in the power options asking what do when the I touch the
power button? Does that refer to the power switch? I thought it might
refer to the power icon (the plug) that appears (optionally) in the
workbar. I'm still having problems with my computer turning on
automatically & I'm wondering if changing settings of the power button
may help. I've gotten used to this problem, however, and now commonly
turn off the power switch; but sometimes when I forget, as last night, I
am awakened by my computer starting up. By the way, this definitely has
nothing to do with bios settings, since they're all correct, or other
settings. Besides, it suddenly happened, after having my computer for
about a year & changing nothing. Another possibility is a power mouse
that I have, & which I do not fully understand. This power mouse turns
on the computer by clicking the left mouse, which I discovered
accidentally months after I bought it. I notice some reference to a
middle section that can be programmed but I haven't the faintest idea
how to go about it. I tried the mouse icon in Computer Settings, but
nothing related to controlling the power mouse. However, I'm wondering
(and this may sound far-fetched) if the mouse has some kind of memory
and when I click it it remembers to turn on the computer, if it's
clicked in a certain way or repetitively for no purpose. This post is
slightly rambling and covers really 3 different/separate issues but at
least tangentially related to an ongoing problem of my computer turning
on automatically.

 

[invictus2002]

Thanks for your reply. Also apologies for that mangled syntax in my 2d
sentence
(below), strictly the fault of my fingers racing ahead of myself.
So I think you refer to the famous middle button of the hard drive
case. I
suspected that, but it didn't make sense that the menu would allow that
button
to do nothing. One wonders how access to the computer is possible
again!
Well, I'll check BIOS again; come to think of it, although this
problem
started suddenly, my LAN connection is fairly recent, so there may be a
connection, although all the BIOS settings seemed right when I checked a
couple
of times several weeks ago.

 

[Alex Nichol]

Hi. This may sound like a simple question, but what does "power button"
refer to, as in the power options asking what do when the I touch the
power button? Does that refer to the power switch?

It is referring to the physical push button on the computer case - which
with ATX power supplies is not an actual power switch, but just a
signalling button to tell the ACPI power control what to do. Windows
then picks that signal up, and takes action as set - including telling
the power supply to shut down at the right moment

 

[EGMcCann]

--

So why ask the question

Why ask WHAT question - why you have options for the power button, or what
the power button is?

Most people probably think of the power button on a PC case like a light
switch, which really doesn't have many options (ignoring rotary dimmer
switches.) They don't realize it's not, and can have its behavior modified.