I've noticed in some posts some of you talk of leaving your computer on all the time. I don't do this. Should I? What are the goods and bads of leaving one on indefinitely?
Posted by TransLab (Member # 470) on :
Don't have an answer for ya.
I tend to leave computers on, I schedule antivirus updates and system sweeps as well backups, diskscans and defrags for off hours. When computers are idle they tend to go to sleep so energy consumption is not much of an issue. I do reboot occasionally just to clear out the cobwebs (less frequently now since I switched to win 2000) .
Sounds like a good question for a poll.
Are you an oner or an offer??
[ March 29, 2003, 10:25 AM: Message edited by: TransLab ]
Posted by Bob Burns (Member # 268) on :
If I leave mine on (WIN98, the puter slowly uses resources just sitting there.....so I turn it off overnight. Also there's the possible "surge" problem.........
Posted by Mark Yearwood (Member # 2723) on :
I used to leave mine on all the time until I came in after the weekend and the CPU fan had siezed up.(for those new to computers, this is the fan that cools the processor)...anyway, it's little brain got hot and started corrupting the hard drive. I lost the whole hard drive a couple days later. I keep mine dusted out too, but I replaced 3 cpu fans in one year by running them 24/7. It's pretty windy and dusty here in west OK though.
I figure anything that runs all the time is going to wear out faster than shutting it off when you go home.
Posted by Steve Nuttle (Member # 2645) on :
I used to leave mine on 24 and 7 but like Mark I went through several fans and a power supply. Plus the cats learned to get on the desk and bat the mouse to bring it out of suspend mode in the morning. They did that to wake me up! Smart cats. Now I turn mine off at night. Don't really know if it makes a lot of difference or not.
Posted by Marty Engel (Member # 3483) on :
I think the thought is that the less your hard drive has to spin up/down the better. Turning it off at night should be okay, just don't shut down every time you leave your desk.
Oh, and as far as turning on/off... always use the power button on the device (CPU, monitor, printer, scanner, etc) rather than using a power strip. My Epson 1200 fried due to being turned on/off in this manner.
Cheers,
Marty
[ March 29, 2003, 11:12 AM: Message edited by: Marty Engel ]
Posted by Fred Weiss (Member # 3662) on :
Another disadvantage to an always on approach is if you have a DSL or cable modem attached. In that situation, unless you have a firewall for security, people using "internet scanners" can and will find and access the contents of your hard drive.
Posted by Mike Pipes (Member # 1573) on :
My desktop machine is left running constantly, and has been running 24/7 the past 9 years... now the only problems with that machine is the loose connection between the mainboard and the keyboard connector, and the video card gets flakey on occassion.. not a problem as I just use it as a file server and a scanning server (scan images over network). The hard drives are newer though as they are continually updated.
I also proactively replace the CPU fan every year regardless if it needs it or not, $5 insurance.
The laptop I shut down every night before bed, but it runs constantly all day, every day, from 7am til 1am.
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
do you leave your car run in the driveway while you sleep? do you leave your tv and never shut it off? little simple logic. mine goes on in the morning and off when i go to bed. when i leave the house for a couple days, i disconnect modem line and unplug all printers/plotters. never kow when your tranformer(on your elecrtic pole) might take a crap. had one do that on me here, burnt out a curcuit board in the gas furnace, cost $400 to replace.(homeowners is $500 deductable). you have at least 2 fans in your computer, 1 on the CPU, and 1 on the power supply. reasons for fans is these pieces make heat, heat will destroy these components over time. so if you dont want to fry a h/d of m/b while you sleep.....just do a turn off when you go to bed.
Posted by Donna in BC (Member # 130) on :
I was told by my computer guru that it wears out components when the computer is turned on or off, so for the most part it's best to leave the thing running. Sounds like we'll be replacing parts whether we leave it running or not.
I personally leave them running all week and turn them off for the weekend. I always shut my monitors off at night though, something about the warranty on them.
I also find that if I shut them off a little more than once a week, they run better.
When I use to have a storefront, I shut them off every night and unplugged them due to being connected to a body shop (power surges etc). Here at home each computer is on it's very own circuit.
We also have dial up internet. I think I'd shut mine off nightly if I had cable for internet.
Posted by David Wright (Member # 111) on :
I have examined this issue many times with others and have to say OP's points are the most valid. It also costs more, in my case an extra twenty some bucks a month for the two computers I had at the time.
Posted by Myra Grozinger (Member # 327) on :
I do what OP does pretty much exactly, to my computers. I don't know why though, it just works, and I have not had problems. I've asked a few professional PC people and the consensus was that this is the thing to do. Except for laptops, they do better if they are not left on all day. Something about overheating.
OP's words about the car reminded me of a funny. My friend Diane, a really absent minded sort who leaves her keys in the car, the car running, and then slams the door did so once while she went to see a movie. When she came out of the theatre the car - in the middle of a traffic way of a big busy parking lot - was still running.
Posted by Harris Kohen (Member # 2139) on :
OK heres my take on this subject.
Is the glass half full or half empty?
Why is the sky blue?
potato or potatoe? (check websters for that answer)
Bottom line, ask 10 different computer experts and you will get 11 different answers
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
the reason for the idea of leaving them on goes back to those bad old DOS days. with the 8086/8088,286,386 machines, the boot up was critical and the old batterys they had controlled the CMOS would go dead. sometimes just rebooting those old computer would cause a crash. also those old machine didnt run as hot as your 586/686/ P2/3/4'S do. also the older main frames didnt have cmos batteries and was a choir to boot up. the 486's started the cooling fans, and overclocking the CPU just made em run hotter. now a days to leave a computer running unless you have it set up as a server is a waste of electricity. hence most computer GURU's come from that era of computers and ..."old habits die hard." your monitor is just like your tv, most have sleep modes or standby mode....reason being....THEY CREATE HEAT when they are on all the time. HEAT DESTROYS circuit boards over time. i had a tv 27" which we bought in 1986, i treated it like i do my computers/monitors. i would turn it on when i wanted to watch tv.....if it was during the day, i would then leave it on till i went to bed. we just replaced that tv....last year. and it was never broke all that time.
Posted by cheryl nordby (Member # 1100) on :
Boy you have the ole' 486 figured out OP. (yer pretty smart fer a visitor) I had my 486 for about 10 years....never turned it off unless I was on a week long vacation. It just kept going and going. Moved the shop ...... so had to obviously turn the computer off....and yep....dang thing blew up. sorta. Actually it just quit. So now I have my 5 year old computer. I don't turn it off much either. Maybe I should. It is a POS. but that's ok.....son is building me a new one. It's gonna kick butt.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
so energy consumption is not much of an issue. I do reboot occasionally just to clear out the cobwebs (less frequently now since I switched to win 2000) .![[Wink]](wink.gif)
I had my 486 for about 10 years....never turned it off unless I was on a week long vacation. It just kept going and going. Moved the shop ...... so had to obviously turn the computer off....and yep....dang thing blew up. sorta. Actually it just quit. So now I have my 5 year old computer. I don't turn it off much either. Maybe I should. It is a POS. but that's ok.....son is building me a new one. It's gonna kick butt.