How can i keep my Vista from going on standby?

Get a Mac.

Did you check your settings? Try right-clicking on the desktop, go down to properties, and check there.

But it should charge on stand-by, and its a waste of energy to leave it running all night.

1: Go to Start > Control Panel (Classic View) > Power Options
2: Click “Change plan settings” under the plan that is already selected, or the one you want to select
3: Under “Plugged in”, set “Put computer to sleep” to “Never”
4: Save changes

If this doesn’t fix it, there might be some other setting making your computer go to sleep. You can play around in “Change advanced power settings” – maybe your computer is actually hibernating, instead of sleeping or standing by?

control panel—> system and maintenance—> “change when computer goes to sleep” (under power options)

It is a large waste to let it run overnight only to charge your ipod,plus your ipod doesnt take all night to charge. Are you sure it doesnt charge in standby mode??

dammit, jonno just beat me by seconds!

You can also buy a seperate power adaptor to charge your iPod, so you don’t have to leave your computer on just for that (which, as others have said, is quite a waste of power)

I second the power adapter solution. iPod power adapters are so cheap these days. You can find them for like 5 bucks at target

yep and you wont have to pay the power bill for keeping the computer on overnight.