wake on lan

[asteroid]

pretty much all recent PCs have something in the bios for this,

how exactly can it be activitated?

I used VNC remote accessing software at my previous work to fix peoples machines remotely, its great and the software is free from http://www.realvnc.com/

Id like to put various old machines in a cupboard out of the way and use them to test various bits of software, I dont want to leave them switched on all the time as dont want a big electric bill, just want to turn them on with some app on my machine, and remotely access them.

Whats a good way to achieve this?

[wiljamlan]

I use Wake on LAN at work to remotely boot up 10 computers every morning.

I use: http://www.profshutdown.com/wol_free_utility.aspx to wake them up.
If you check the settings in BIOS and the network adapter configuration to see if WOL is allowed.

[MindLESS]

We use http://www.matcode.com/wol.htm
nice simple command line utility - can easily script it

[warrior9a]

See if you can measure the power consumed while powered down - my 4yr Dell uses an additional 20 watts when WOL is enabled; works out at £15 / yr. Hopefully your motherboard manufacturer has designed a better solution.