Turning Off Your Computer

[Subdude]

Someone asked me this and I had no idea. How often should you turn off your computer? I leave mine in standby mode, but rarely ever fully power them down. The person who asked me this was thinking it was better for the computer to turn them off with some frequency. Anyone know?

[sevfiv]

goooood question - i hope someone around here can answer it!

i leave mine on almost ALL the time, rebooting once in a long while. i do, however, have pretty strict power saving options on...

[MidtownCoog]

Not so much that you need to shut down, but you do need to reboot now and then.

Good for your memory, clearning cookies, updating config files, windows updates, yada, yada, yada.

[HeightsGuy]

I think this was more of an issue a decade ago when the recommondation was to leave your computer on as much as possible, more specifically not to reboot unless needed since that's when components receive the most stress, now it's more a personal decision than anything. That said, at home I am running a wireless connection to the Internet, my computer stays off unless I am sitting in front of it.

[ToolMan]

It's all about conserving energy. You can save about $90.00 a year if you shut off you computer at night. The hibernate features also cut down on electricity.

Turning your PC on and off wears it out? A decade ago, there was something to this, but not today. It used to be that PC hard disks did not automatically park their heads when shut off, and that frequent on/off cycling could damage the hard disks. Today's PCs are designed to handle 40,000 on/off cycles before a failure, and that's a number you likely won't reach during the computer's five-to-seven-year life span.

[Talbot]

I usually turn mine off every night, it seems to me to run fresher when I turn it off every night. And also I have dsl, so it makes me feel better to turn it off at night.

[TJones]

Leave the CPU on just turn off the monitor, that is where kilowatt usage is going. Don't worry about the CPU being on, just do as what all the other fine people have suggested, and reboot and clean out the cookies every once in awhile, might want to even back it up on a disk every now and then or make a check point on it every now and then, just in case something bogs down, you go back to the previous configuration on that date.

[PCfixit]

This is a question that, no matter how you answer it, someone will usually argue the opposite.

Some people are worried about voltage spikes when turning a computer on, back when they had "AT"

power supplies that probably could of happened and over time would stress components into an early failure. Now almost all home computers, not sure about apples, are running "ATX" power supplies. The way these PS work is, when the power button is pressed the PS is initiated, then it sends a power good signal to the MB (motherboard), which tells the MB its ok to boot, all voltages are within specs for the computer to run. There are no voltage spikes at boot up anymore.

The next on the list would be Over Heating (Processor, Hard Drive, Power Supply, Video Chip and other various IC's) thats why most computers have at least two or more fans to keep air flowing over and around all the components on the inside, I know your saying " but PCfixit why do I have to worry about heat? I have all these fans". If you have ever looked inside of a computer you will be amazed.

1. Fans are mechanical and they do fail (mostly because of use, the bearings dry up

or dust builds up inside the bearings) leaving components to overheat. Open cabinet

door if you have one of those types of desks.

2. Computers make great filters, over time, (human and pet dandruff, pet hair,dust

and dirt) build up. In, around and on top of IC's, causing overheating and failure.

Best to get computers off of the floor where most of this stuff settles and gets stirred

up from foot traffic.

The very next thing on the list is Brown Outs and Power Surges. These are caused sometimes by Lightening strikes, electric companies changing over generators, trees falling on power lines, ice on power lines, squirrels frying transformers, people working on power lines and cars taking out telephone poles just to mention a few. There are to many things to mention that could cause Brown Outs and Power Surges, and I know what your saying "but PCfixit why do I have to worry about that I have a $14.95 surge protector". Don't laugh I've heard it hundreds of times I had my own computer shop and what I would tell my customers is I am glad to hear they had a $14.95 Surge protector but that was only going to protect them against $14.95 and below surges & spikes, what happens if they get hit with a $20.00 spike or surge? all kidding aside, you get what you pay for and this is where most people try to save some money. The best thing would be an UPS unit to not only protect against spikes and surges but also when the voltage drops to a level that the computer would cease to function and/or reboot, the UPS would keep the necessary voltages for the computer to be safely turned off. Brown Outs wreck havoc on Hard drives, Power supplies and other components, weakening them, sometimes up to a point of failure.

Rebooting also does clear out the memory, refreshes the drivers and DLL's that are needed to run windows at optimum speed.

So those are a few reasons not all that I would turn off my computer when its not being used, not downloading huge files or not on a network where it is needed.

Sorry post was so long

[dbigtex56]

Thanks for the info, PCfixit.

Another argument (urban myth?) I've heard is that a computer which is connected to the internet via cable modem is more easily hacked if it's left on continually. Any truth to that rumor?

[Subdude]

Yeah I've heard that too.

Thanks for the info. I know that overheating is a problem. I've had to replace the fan on my desktop before, and it is so loud now I suspect it is about to go again.

[PCfixit]

Another argument (urban myth?) I've heard is that a computer which is connected to the internet via cable modem is more easily hacked if it's left on continually. Any truth to that rumor?

Not that its more easily hacked, but there is more opportunity to hack into a computer and when access is achieved, more time to steal critical information about you (bank account numbers, credit card numbers, name, address, phone numbers, social security numbers) its called identity theft. The best way to combat this is only put information that is needed into your computer, never type in your social security number for any reason, only put bank account info in, if you use Quicken, Microsoft Money or online banking and online bill pay on a regular basis. If you have set one of these programs up and then never really used it, the program should be removed. Always keep antivirus up to date (this stops viruses that are downloaded and search for info then it is emailed to a thief). Run a good firewall, like Zone Alarm, Sygate, Kerio (this keeps hackers from actually looking on your computer at files with your info) XP has one built in to the operating system which is turned on by default. Run Lavasoft Adaware, Spybot, CCleaner (these remove all tracking cookies, spyware, adware, keyloggers, trojans and dialers) I run all three everday.

hope this helps

[ssullivan]

I'm not home much so mine stays off all the time unless I'm actually using it. And since many times when I'm at home I just use my work laptop, there are times my personal computer doesn't get turned on at all for several weeks.

I've never been the type to just leave it on all the time. I'd rather not waste the electicity.

[editor]

The last time I turned off my computer was a month ago when I had to take it to the shop for an upgrade. Before that, I don't think I'd turned it off in a year or so. Normally I just walk away and it puts itself to sleep when it gets bored.

[Subdude]

Related, today I found out that you should also periodically turn off your phone. Mine stopped working, and the people at the phone store explained that, just like a computer, cell phones should be powered down regularly. Which was news to me, since I never turn my phone off except on planes.

[editor]

Actually, some computers do better if they're left on.

Macs, for example, run diagnostic and clean-up programs between 1:00am and 3:00am if no one's using the machine. Other Unix-based machines do the same.

Older (1980's-era) computers also did better if left on because of thermal shock and other factors that don't really matter much these days.

As for phones needing to be powered down, that sounds either a superstition or a way of making up for buggy software. Imagine if SBC told you to unplug your home phone every once in a while to make it work better. Or if Reliant told you to unplug your stove or refrigerator. Utter nonsense. The phones should just work. That's what we pay for them to do.