I have found hibernate annoying in the past as it takes just as long to startup normaly as it does to resume from hybernation.
But today i descovered the great feature that is Windows Stand By, I stumbled upon this when wanting to quickly shutdown however instead of clicking Turn Off I just hit enter, thus putting my computer into stand by mode.

Stand By allows you to turn the computer off and leave it in a low power (Enough to keep the memory alive) consumption mode (Sleep), it can then be woken by the press of a key or the movement of a mouse. Within a few seconds Resuming the computer from right where you left off (open windows and all). This is great when you are not downloading or scanning for viruses, as it allows you and your computer to have a little break without shuting down completely.