Forget star signs, what key do you press to wake up your computer from sleep?

The "any" key, of course.

Usually space

I move the mouse.

Space

I pick up the mouse, hold it to my mouth and say, "Computer...?”

ESC

Space key. That way it won't accidentally enter an actual letter or command that could be passed to the current active application.

That's not really much of a problem anymore these days (serious issue in WinXP era), but it's still the safe key, so I use it.

Edit: I totally botched this. I meant Shift key. Derp.

I like ctrl as well.

Less alarming and obtrusive. To the computer? For me?

I prefer left Ctrl, but will press the right ctrl if I'm feeling wild that day.

This is a great question.

Shift because it can't trigger an action on its own.

<Tinfoil hat>
Using space, enter, control, or alt can trigger functions in windows if another key is stuck for a weird reason.
</Tinfoil hat>

A nice open palm slap on the middle of the keyboard does the trick for me

Spacebar

Arrow keys

Space, because I enjoy chaos.

Mouse wiggles

qwerdsffyjiluiop;hjmdb

sfg [waggle mouse] qqwthr

ctrl is the only correct choice obviously. it's the only key that does nothing by itself and it's positioned at a corner so it's hard to mistype

Space - The Final Frontier

These are the voyages...

I shake the mouse then start entering my login before the screen turns on, works 50% of the time.

Shift.

They're big enough I don't have to aim. They're located on both edges (at least on TKL). They do nothing on their own.

Any single modifier key by itself, in case it’s just the screen that’s asleep and I’m inadvertently typing into a text field.

I always turn off my computer when I'm done. I like to get a fresh boot

Up arrow

My 2 year old, when prompted to hit any key, hit the power button instead.

Anyway, the answer is a swift kick of my desk to move my mouse cause that seems to wake it up.

Left Ctrl

Up arrow

I always shutdown even for a short break.

I shake the mouse

I just smack the keyboard or press a bunch of keys at once.

Mouse click.

I spam escape but I usally disable sleep on all my machines and use hibernation instead. Too many issues with sleep. Randomly wakes up, USB devices aren't recognized, a monitor stays black...

I stomp on my usb foot pedal

Fingerprint scanner power button thing

Lawful Neutral, ctrl.

I have to press the power button because the dumbass enters deep sleep.

Been using spacebar but what I would like to do is set up a midi drum pad as an input device so I can wake my computer up by smacking it with a stick.

Wait... You guys actually only push one button?

I slide my entire hand across the keyboard like I'm waving to the computer haha

Backspace, because my cat likes to step on my keyboard and then characters are often left in the password field that need cleared.

Depends the OS.

Windows its Space

On Linux shift since space will fill in the password field with spaces

my computer doesnt go to sleep.

It must stay awake, at all times, awaiting my input.

I'm a mad man I click different shit every time.

Esc like 3-5 times (to also prompt the login input) or mouse wiggle

The power button. I've disabled usb-wake because my wireless mouse keeps waking up my computer

Any key

Escape is kinda hardcoded as a safe button in my headspace and spacebar is just fun to press.

I hit the "wake on lan" icon on my phone, since my computer is in a different room from my monitor and the usb doesn't work for waking it up directly. But if I could, left ctrl all day!

I press my whole hand into the keyboard hitting like 20 keys probably

I have a BLE keyboard and a BLE trackball, so they lose connection when PC is sleeping. To wake it up I press the power button

I push the power button on the tower.

Left arrow up arrow right arrow. over and over and over again until the computer comes up

i rapidly press as many keys as i can within a 1 second time frame

or i just slam the enter key a few times

I plop my furry balls menacingly on the keyboard and inevitably hit at least half the keys

Caps lock because it doesn't do anything like enter or other keys might do and if I see the light blink then I know that the computer/keyboard is not frozen.

Space. On my mechanical keyboard it makes a nice thunk. You really know you've pressed it.

I just stare at it loathfully until it wakes up out of shame.

(Or maybe it's my enraged vibrations transferring to the mouse through the table and causing it to move, same difference.)

I honestly just kind of flop my hand around on the keyboard

I always hit an arrow key. Just in case it's not actually asleep but just turned off the display, and I don't want to accidentally start typing into something without seeing the screen yet. It's like, 99% unsubstantiated paranoia, admittedly.

Permanently Deleted

Backspace

Power. I'm weird like that, I guess.

Ctrl to wake the screen, system set to never sleep. Stupid Plex running on Windows addiction.

My desktop pc doesn't wake up from keyboard inputs, so the power button. On my laptop I just open the lid.

Sleep? I run Linux. It's on. Or it's off. So power? I guess?

I smash the arrow keys like I’m playing a synthesizer.

Mash low in the corner.

Probably a combo of Ctrl-shift-alt-super-z-x-space

I know, much barbarian.

Haven't seen anyone else comment this, I mash all arrow keys

Originally I got into this habit thinking that arrow keys would do nothing, and in most interfaces they don't, but I have learned the hard way they certainly do stuff when watching YouTube.

However it's too late and too embedded in my brain to wake my PC by mashing arrow keys so that is my life

Mouse click gang

If it's suspended I usually open my laptop. If its just locked/screen off I put in my password and press enter because GDM doesn't need to be first "woken up" before entering the password.

So it's "the first letter in my password" which is .....

My PC dual functions as a server so it never sleeps

Getting ready for the downvotes… I put my finger on the touch-id sensor of the wireless keyboard.

On my Linux laptops, I usually swipe on the trackpad or track point. If that doesn’t do anything, one of the ctrl keys.

Scroll Lock

Cursor-right.

It's least likely to mess up your command line, won't trigger an action, and easy to find blind.

Control and alt .Bonus: To move to the bottom of a terminal, I have it set to scroll to bottom on input and hit backspace.

I use a macbook for work, so I lightly tap the power button and touchID unlocks it.

Mash the DEL key, because it skips the prompt to click OK to login, and takes me straight to password entry.

Waking up is hardware encoded to the mouse button, keys are secondary.... It's mentioned on that 'daves garrage' YouTube channel with the guy who was a dev for windows 95.

Wait, there are people that don't press Ctrl?

Esc also removes anything typed into swaylock so esc

Control, but I have Caps Lock and my right control key swapped, so physically the Caps Lock key.

It also doesn't really "wake" my computer. When I lock my desktop, I have the operation also set up to enable DPMS with a short timeout, so my monitor also powers down if I'm not typing for a few seconds. When I come back, I just smack Control to make the monitor power on and make my screen locker show an indication that it's active. Unlocking the screen locker disables DPMS, so once the system's unlocked, I don't need to tap anything to wake the monitor.

My machine is dual boot and boots so fast I don't sleep it. If booting to linux, after login it resumes my previous session exactly as it was anyway. No point sleeping it to me.

space, ctrl, or sometimes the entire numpad at once. it's just one big button :P

Numlock. Let's me know if the hardware is locked up, powered off, or just slow to wake.

I'm so surprised people have specific buttons? Is there a reason? I just mash my whole hand at the keyboard

Numpad Enter, its a large Key on the edge of the Keyboard i guess?

None! And the sucker still wakes up all the time.

I giggle the mouse.

Right arrow. Wake on mouse disabled because cats. Right arrow is on the bottom right corner and convenient to hit when pulling the keyboard tray out.

I use numlok mostly. I guess I’m weird!

The first letter of my password.

I mash the keyboard. It wakes.

Esc, t, or I move the mouse. Depends on my goal when I'm waking it up.

Win/Super key

I find that pretty safe.

Permanently Deleted

The power button

I slap the spacebar, often multiple times if I'm impatient

If there is a pin set, decimal on the numpad, else Ctrl or ESC.

I thump my water bottle down on the desk just hard enough to make my mouse trigger and wake up the PC. By the time I'm sat comfortably it's awaiting a password :]

Am I the only one that just kind throws my hand on the keyboard and what happens happens?

SPACE bar

I just open it.

Arrow up. Multiple times.

I also use Ctrl, or I waggle my mouse to wake both it and my PC (it's wireless).

F3, what else?

I use a arrow key, usually the arrow to the right

Control. I'm mildly paranoid any other key will actually go through and type/do something.

Ctrl+Alt+delete for my work computer so I can go straight to password input.
Space for my home computer.

click the power button i guess, i forgot.

Right. Mouse. Button.

I will not be taking any questions.

I don't. I move the mouse.

I was very very very drunk.

My computer never gets the chance to sleep.

I just drop my schweaty balls on the keyboard

My PC just never sleeps.

I just change the TV input to PC IN and it's already on.

Alt

I make certain to always press a different key every time. I use a keyboard overlay to help keep track, by punching out the key that I just pressed. What happens when I get through them all? First, I cycle through in a unique ordering - by printing off a new overlay ofc - and then when I'm through with that, I know that it's time to get a new keyboard. Btw I'm just kidding, if you couldn't tell 🤣.

Either ctrl or any of the arrow keys

probably J, since thats where my right hand rests.

The only correct answer is num lock. Caps lock is sort of correct, but it's a stupid key on anything that's not a typewriter so I usually disable it so the only correct answer is num lock. No exceptions.

Spacebar sometimes but usually I just smack the keyboard randomly until it wakes up lol

If you mean actual sleep, as in S3 sleep, that would be the power button as I disable waking from sleep from anything else as I don't like the PC waking up from accidental keyboard key presses or mouse movements.

If you mean when the monitor goes to sleep, it's the shift key that I mash. Yes, that means on Windows I always have to disable that stupid shortcut to enable StickyKeys.

My YubiKey.

I've always used Ctrl for that. I had my computer for 2 years before I discovered that Ctrl is the "wake from sleep" key, and no other keys would work anyway. (it's a thinkpad)

Mouse wiggles

Enter key or space bar

Shift, Escape and mouse wiggle, in that order.

First thing I do on any computer that I'm using (work, home) is turning sleep and suspend off. When it's a laptop I disable that closing the lid suspends the laptop. I hate it when I'm moving to a meeting room the thing shuts off. It spins up quickly, but network or whatever is gone, plus gotta unlock it again. Nay.

On other devices, it's moving the mouse first to see if it's not the monitor that went in standby, if that doesn't work I go ham on the spacebar. Finally, the power button if space does nothing, to admit defeat.

Home laptop, power button. Work computer, CTRL-ALT twice brings the login screen.

I bang my head of the keyboard so it's random.

Fn or moving the mouse.

Any key at the corner. Usually arrow right. It doesn't mess up my password during the time it is waking up where I'm unsure if it is missing one or two characters. Sometimes also [ or control or fn or even backspace depending which keyboard I'm using.

The “touch-id” key that also functions as the power-button.

Spacebar.

I press A. Keyboard wakes up the computer but mouse doesn't, both USB and same brand.

I slam the keyboard like a piano player playing Flight of the Bumblebee

Enter