@VsUK - I am glad that fixed it. Thanks for the follow up.
@OldTimer - I agree completely that in years past, these features seemed to cause more pain than pleasure for a lot of people - though I don't agree it was more so than malware when looking at the big picture. For users who were disciplined at keeping their computers updated, patched, scanned and blocked and who avoided risky practices (namely illegal filesharing) they generally don't have malware problems, so for them or rather some of them, issues with these sleep and hibernation features could have been a big concern.
It is important to remember that notebooks have, for years, gone into "sleep" mode whenever the lid is closed and clearly this works and has worked the vast majority of the time.
And today, Microsoft and hardware makers seem to have it figured out with Windows 7 and current hardware designed to support Windows 7. I converted all my systems over to Win 7 (with new hardware - an important fact for Win 7 compatibility) last October and November and since doing so, for all the PCs and for my laptop, I have had zero problem waking up out of Windows 7's Hybrid Sleep mode. Not one! Yes, some folks have reported problems, but they are the exceptions, not the norm.
But I totally disagree with your fire comments. It is important to note that since 1995 when the ATX Form Factor Standard became the industry wide standard for today's PCs, ALL ATX power supplies have been required to supply +5Vsb standby voltage across several points on the motherboard whenever the computer is turned off. And it does this to provide power to the RAM for sleep mode, as well as to support such features as Wake on LAN, Wake on Mouse, Wake on Keyboard, and even to provide power to the front panel power switch. My point is, circuits are live whether in sleep/hibernate mode, or turned off!
I grant you that while in sleep mode (as opposed to hibernate) your computer can wake up and download updates, run a anti-malware scan, or even perform a system backup. If on a corporate network, the admin can have other tasks scheduled. But I personally think that capability is a good thing. Backups and malware scans can take hours, and sadly, many (most?) people don't and won't do them if it disrupts their computing use. If done in the middle of the night, it does not interfere with their normal computing activities.
With well over 1 Billion Windows computers in the world today, if fires were a problem, it would be well published. The Microsoft/Windows/Bill Gates bashers would be all over it.
The ONLY way to remove the risk of fire completely is to unplug the computer from the wall when not in use. I note this is the same for your TV, DVR, or any appliance that has a clock in it. And in actuality, that applies to anything that plugs into the wall. Even battery powered devices pose risks of fires, unless the batteries are removed.
So while I agree with your statement that "all sorts of weird things can happen to your PC when you're not in attendance", I think it is a "false alarm" to call "fire" one of them. Unplugging from the wall it the only way to prevent that.
Note that some PSUs have a master power switch on back. This is not an ATX requirement so many PSUs don't have such a switch. If there is no switch, the +5Vsb is present whenever the PSU is plugged in. If there is a master power switch, setting it to Off removes the +5Vsb voltage, but does NOT completely remove the risk of fire because there is still house/mains voltages present in the PSU, and sadly, many PSUs are very cheaply made using very cheap components (including cheap master power switches).
