A facility available on modern microcomputers that allows the machine’s state to be saved to backing store and subsequently restored. This allows the machine to be switched off for an indefinite period with, when it is switched on again, the automatic restoration of screen layout, program states, etc., so that users can pick up work where they had left off. Such a restoration is faster than a cold boot, but slower than restoring from sleep. Users might be required to enter their password before they can access the restored system.