How to make computer return from standby mode

Question

I would like my computer to do specific tasks periodically or at a specific time.

Such as:

• to wake up each 15 minutes, connect to the Internet, check e-mail, beep (if there is unread mail), then go standby again

• to wake up at 8 am and play music

In the best case, it should be asleep and therefore, silent and going low-power.

It's no problem to make it connect or check the mail, but how to make it wake up ... ?
Do you happen to know the software to achieve this or windows API to use ?
I feel like there is one, but I failed to find it.

Answer 1

WakeUpOnStandBy (Windows)

Answer 2

• CreateWaitableTimer
• SetWaitableTimer
• SetSuspendState to enter the suspended state.
• CancelWaitableTimer

More info for example here.

Other alternatives require some more hardware support - like for example the Wake-On-Lan feature or IPMI.

Answer 3

Some computers have options like what you want in BIOS. I don't believe there's any way without BIOS support. Once your computer is asleep there's no programmatic way for it to wake up, since any such program is asleep...