posted on October 21, 2000 06:35:00 PM new
Do you shut your computer off at night? I was recently told that it's bad to shut it off every night. Any experts out there?
posted on October 21, 2000 06:42:16 PM new
This is really personal preference. If I'm going to be away from mine for more than two hours I turn it off, otherwise I leave it on. I never leave mine on overnight (I'm a miser when it comes to electricity).
I know that you have probably heard that they will last longer if you:
a) Never turn it off
b) Turn it off when not in use
... depending on who is doing the telling. But with today's technology, it makes little difference either way. Most computers will be obsolete before they break.
posted on October 21, 2000 06:53:56 PM new
We leave our desktop systems on all the time. We shut down and unplug when lightening storms threaten, or when away from home for more than a day. Generally once per week we shut down all the way and do a "cold boot". I shut my portable down each night.
Most of the "experts" we've spoken to advise that the electrical on and off of components is the most wearing. While I'm not sure of the truth of that, I do know that I don't want to wait each morning for the system to boot up. Since they are on a network, the boot time is even longer, around 2 1/2 minutes. We have cable internet, and someone in this house of 6 is almost always up and checking email or something.
Our main system is a little over two years old, never been reformatted, humming like a bee.
Most of the "experts" we've spoken to advise that the electrical on and off of components is the most wearing.
This is very true. But the MTBF for today's computer equipment is so long (on average), that in the end it really doesn't matter.
For all practical purposes, it truly is personal preference whether to leave them on or turn them off. And your reasons for leaving yours on are certainly valid (and I'm sure that you wouldn't give a darn even if I thought they weren't lol).
Good idea about unplugging during a lightning storm too. Even the very best surge protectors won't save your equipment from a direct lightning strike. They do just what the name implies: protect against transient power surges.
posted on October 21, 2000 07:29:47 PM new
We turned our old computer on and off as we used it. We got it in 1992 and the kids still use it.
We haven't had anything wear out on it yet but I did add memory and a faster modem. The original modem was 2400 Baud. LOL!
posted on October 21, 2000 10:27:01 PM new
I leave mine on all the time. At work that's necessary because the PCs are backed up at night. At home, well... I just do. I shut down and restart before using my scanner, though, otherwise Windows will freeze.
The Mac I rarely use at work is on all the time, but it's in "sleep" mode. I caught the first couple of minutes of Freaky Links last night and they were using a Mac G4 cube. The power went out but the computer stayed on, and the guy explained it was on automatic battery backup. Wowee!
posted on October 21, 2000 10:46:23 PM new
If you are using the Win95, it is a good idea to turn it off (or at least restart, Win 95 needs to clear itself to work properly) on a regular basis...personally mine is on 24/7, and I don't sweat it.
Keith
I assume full responsibility for my actions, except
the ones that are someone else's fault.
posted on October 22, 2000 10:57:37 AM new
Mine goes in to Sleep Mode. When I need it, I just wake it up. Once every two weeks, I do clean out stuff, scan disk, defrag, etc. ...then shut it down and reboot. Otherwise, its here when I need it (and lately I have needed it, since Im at the inverted castle now in Castlevania and I get lost often)
posted on October 22, 2000 08:20:16 PM new
I use to leave mine on 7/24. Now that my son is off to college and isn't on the computer all night I just shut down.
If I didn't do this I would never get off this darn thing. My computer is nearly 5 years old and takes forever to reboot. This stops me from checking out my auctions every few minutes. I just turn it on once every afternoon, check emails, check auctions, cruise the internet, visit here and then shut down.
[ edited by toomanycomics on Oct 22, 2000 10:32 AM ]