Dead Connection in Sleep Mode

[freisak]

So I'm not sure if this is in the correct place in the forums, but I tried my best.

I just got a Dell Inspiron 1525 for graduation and I've been playing around with it a bunch, and I set the computer so that if it's plugged in and I press the power key once, it will go into sleep mode. I noticed that whenever I have AIM logged in and I do this, when I return and wake up the computer, I have been logged out of AIM. I'd like to be able to stay logged in over night, is there anyway to keep my connection running when in sleep mode.

Oh, and just so you know I am connected to a public network that's basically my house's wireless router that connects each computer in the house.

One more question, is it normal for a fully charged battery to last only an hour and a half once unplugged before turning off because of low battery? I'm not sure if my battery will last me one class if that's all it can do.

Thanks in advance for all your help,
Katie