Do you turn off your computer?

[Parker 1st MRB]

I wanted to know what you guys thought about leaving your computer on. Is it good or bad?

[Janke 1st MRB]

I would put the computer to sleep, until eventually it refused to go to sleep, it would wake itself back up, so I turn it off now. I often leave my laptop on sleep, though, especially if I plan on using it later in the day.

[Holland 1st MRB]

Absolutely. Though I never have problems with overheating, it is always a good thing to give it a reboot once in a while.

[Yamagata 1st MRB]

Turning your computer off and on often literally wears your circuits. You know what happens when you heat metal and then cool it over and over. Besides, metal is a better conductor warm. I turn my computer completely off maybe once every couple weeks or if I know I will not be using it in the following days. I put my computer to sleep usually, which is basically turning it off. Full shutdowns are for when I travel.

[Maines]

Turning your computer off and on often literally wears your circuits. You know what happens when you heat metal and then cool it over and over. Besides, metal is a better conductor warm. I turn my computer completely off maybe once every couple weeks or if I know I will not be using it in the following days. I put my computer to sleep usually, which is basically turning it off. Full shutdowns are for when I travel.

So my computer will live shorter considering i have to turn it off or else I get grounded?

I turn my computer on for a half hour in the morning and 4-7 hours after school on school days, and 12-14 hours on days off. I have to have it off at night to prevent parental wrath.

Is this going to eventually be the death of my computer circuts? If so, Well fuck....

[Janke 1st MRB]

Doubtful, it's not like turning your computer off frequently will immediately deteriorate it, it's a cumulative thing. Besides, your computer really shouldn't be topping 60 Celsius, and on average should be running 30-40 Celsius, so it's not like it approaching metal-melting hot and going from extreme hot to extreme cold. What would do more damage is letting it get very dusty, therefore hot, and leaving it on all the time, as microprocessors are sensitive to heat, so much so that most newer computers, if not all, have a built-in failsafe that turns the computer off at 110 Celsius, if any component reaches that temperature.

This computer's been on and off when I go to sleep many a time, I've had it for 4 years and the only noticeable performance decrease or fan speed increase is when it gets dusty. PCs were kind of designed to be off and on, I wouldn't worry so much about circuit fatigue if I were you, not until your computer starts running around 5-6 years old, and even then I've used a computer that was 30 years old at the time, and as far as I know it still runs, and is about 32, so circuitry can last.

[Holland 1st MRB]

Though it is true that it will have some affect on the life of your computer, it most definitely will not be drastic. In most cases, your PC does not heat up enough to do any damage upon starting up/shutting down (depending on where it is located, room temperature, computer case, ventilation). If you have one of those auto-switch thermometers in your house (the kind that turn the temp down at night), it could increase the effect of the potential damage drastically, though in most cases, it would not be much of a factor.

If it is an option, putting your computer to sleep mode is a good option.

The benefits towards shutting down your PC would mostly based around money. PC is turned on, power is being used. In many cases, that power can add up significantly.

Secondly, leaving your PC on (NOT including leaving it in sleep), there will be much unneeded wear and tear on your system. On a absolute basic level, you can think of it in terms of the moving parts themselves. If the PC is on, the fans are running. Processes are running. Signals being sent. I feel this is likely the most effective way that I could explain it, without going into too much technical detail.

[Goodwin 1st MRB]

I just want to say - I can't stand "sleep mode" or "hibernate"

I've seen it screw more things up than it's EVER helped anyone - ever. At least in a domain/workgroup environment. For some reason - it's just a shitty feature from my years of experience. Also, with SSD's it can reduce the lifetime of the drive quite a bit (when it sleeps - sometimes gigs of data being stored in RAM gets written to the HD - on a SSD you want to avoid that as much as you can within reason, so 'sleep' is a bad idea with SSD!)

I said my peace in the other thread - it depends on the hardware setup and how long you'll be leaving it off, etc.

[Yamagata 1st MRB]

I just want to say - I can't stand "sleep mode" or "hibernate"

I've seen it screw more things up than it's EVER helped anyone - ever. At least in a domain/workgroup environment. For some reason - it's just a shitty feature from my years of experience. Also, with SSD's it can reduce the lifetime of the drive quite a bit (when it sleeps - sometimes gigs of data being stored in RAM gets written to the HD - on a SSD you want to avoid that as much as you can within reason, so 'sleep' is a bad idea with SSD!)

I said my peace in the other thread - it depends on the hardware setup and how long you'll be leaving it off, etc.

Hahaha, the magic computer science phrase pokes its head out! It's hard to answer questions about computers without knowing the details of their use. For example, the whole SSD conversation from the other topic. Yes, with a SSD you have faster read and write times, however each sector of a SSD has a limited number of times it can be written to, when HHDs have an unlimited number of times it can be written to. So depending on the situation, you may not even want a SSD for your computer, anyone constantly writing and re-writing to their SSD will be SOL down the road. Which leads to my fair warning, NEVER defrag your SSD!

It's like asking what level RAID you should use... "It Depends"

[Lafy BAR]

My current up time is 10 days.... I think the last time I rebooted before that was around Christmas. No hibernation, No Sleep mode. Oh, and I have extremely similar hardware to what you listed in the last thread.

Edited March 15, 2012 by Lafy BAR

[Janke 1st MRB]

I'm going to say that HDDs likely do not have a truly "unlimited" lifespan as suggested, like anything around electronics or magnetism, data can become corrupted over time or the hardware/storage surface (usually a disk or series of disks) can break down. Another disadvantage I've heard to SSDs is that truthfully they're, like any flash memory, in truth volatile storage, they require a power source to run, and I'm sure like most flash memory, they have some kind of battery to preserve that data when powerless, but that battery wears out over time, and when it expires, the whole hard drive is useless. Granted, with modern SSDs that battery will probably outlast the rest of the drive, but if you're one hell of an optimist and plan on using a computer 25 years, you need to take that into account. I've encountered functioning hard drives from the mid '80s that took up 2 5.25" drive bays, so they can, like all electronics, last, it just depends on how they're treated, among other things, one truthfully being luck.

[Yamagata 1st MRB]

I didn't say unlimited lifespan, I said unlimited writing ability. Anything dies after enough wear and tear.

[Cast 1st MRB]

I always turn it off... always have.

[Lyons]

I keep it in sleep mode whenever I'm not around, and I generally let it reboot once every few days.

[Firth]

I always reboot mine, unless theres a reason for it to be left on through the night i always turn it off. I remember a few years ago one of my dads friends got alot of good hardware for hte time and built a PC, he left it on 24/7 and the PSU lasted 8 months before failing and destroying the rest of the components so from what i see it's best to turn it off when your not using it. Personally i can rarely trust my PC being left on overnight, all it needs is for one of the fans to stop working or something happening when im not there and by the time i get there it would just be a molten piece of metal so no thanks

and to what yamagata stated although that is true if your turning it off and on frequently, if you only turn it off when your not using it that would be best, leaving it on also causes wear and tear especially if the PC has alot of moving parts

[Marsden 1st MRB]

Just going to put this out there. Number one troubleshooting step for most fields of electronics. Let's turn it off let it sit for a few minutes and then turn it back on again. Fixes shit more often than not. Simplest step to fix things, which also means it is the simplest step to avoid problems, Shut it down when you go to bed, boot it up and wait the 30seconds-2 mins for your computer to boot on up, is it neccesarry to shut down everytime you get off the computer? hell no. Should you at least reboot on a regular basis? most likely. If you watch the IT crowd and you think I'm just being a smart ass with the whole Try turning it off and On again thing, i'm not it litterally fixxes most of my callers issues getting connected just by resetting the electronics involved, you cut the power through the circuits and any non-defined settings (i.e. application defined settings, corrupted data that changes things so on and so forth).

So I think that shutting the computer down while maybe a lil annoying is worth the extra time. Also when your computer gets t oa point that it is absolutely refusing to shut down (as mine did as the mother board was taking a shit) with out a hard boot that is the first indicator of either a worm or hardware failure.

Another thing is that even if plugged into a surge protector during a power surge if the comp is running and pulling power there is no gauruntee that the circut will flip in time to save your hardware, while off and plugged into a surge protecter their is no existing current going out and therefore far less likely for damage to the hardware.

[Grenoble 1st MRB]

my computer dose its own thing when im not here it reboots and fails to install windows updates as often as it likes

[Legend]

Power down the power-stripe, stay green save money.

[Cantin 1st MRB]

i turn it down cause its in my bedroom...got to sleep eheh

[Holland 1st MRB]

Just going to put this out there. Number one troubleshooting step for most fields of electronics. Let's turn it off let it sit for a few minutes and then turn it back on again. Fixes shit more often than not. Simplest step to fix things, which also means it is the simplest step to avoid problems, Shut it down when you go to bed, boot it up and wait the 30seconds-2 mins for your computer to boot on up, is it neccesarry to shut down everytime you get off the computer? hell no. Should you at least reboot on a regular basis? most likely. If you watch the IT crowd and you think I'm just being a smart ass with the whole Try turning it off and On again thing, i'm not it litterally fixxes most of my callers issues getting connected just by resetting the electronics involved, you cut the power through the circuits and any non-defined settings (i.e. application defined settings, corrupted data that changes things so on and so forth).

People are always amazed about just how correct your post is.

Almost daily I get calls about peoples computer crashing, and not turning back on. Solution? Unplug it from power bar, plug it back in. Works every single time.

People complaining about program errors, first thing I usually tell them, restart your computer. It works, solving atleast 40% of all issues I am confronted with (on a basic level).

[Marsden 1st MRB]

always glad to further ppls edification, but that's the main reason I shut down everynight, and like legend said turnin off the power strip is a great way to go aswell

[Englebretson 1st MRB]

I usually shut mine down at least once or twice a week for my anti virus stuff.

[I have no arms BAR]

I turn mine off because hey, what am I made outta money? I have to pay my electric bill you hosers. Only time I leave it on is when I'm on call and may need to remote in to work at weird times in the middle of the night.

[Tune]

I shut my machine down every night out of habit- if nothing's downloading, that is.