Desktops: "turning off PC" = Good/Bad
Re:Re: Turning off PC is BAD
by RoguePen - 4/19/04 12:46 PM In reply to: Re: Turning off PC is BAD by asmily1Well Said
Re:Re: Turning off PC is BAD
by kweinkauf - 4/19/04 5:15 PM In reply to: Re: Turning off PC is BAD by asmily1I agree with everything but the pothole analogy. Water seeping in the cracks of asphalt and then freezing and thawing is what causes potholes. However, the analogy is sound insofar as potholes are caused by the temperature differential between liquid and solid water (ice). It doesn't do quite the same type of damage as it does to asphalt and water isn't usually present in electrical components but... Oh well.
Ken
Re:"turning off PC" = Good/Bad
by JimboDupre - 4/18/04 8:07 PM In reply to: "turning off PC" = Good/Bad by tyrantigerI usually turn my pc on when I get up and don't turn it off until I go to bed. I've heard turning it on and off many times a day puts a lot of wear and tear on the system.
Re: turning off PC
by Margarita - 4/18/04 8:07 PM In reply to: "turning off PC" = Good/Bad by tyrantigerNow I am not sure about newer computers, because I have only had this one for about a month now, but my old computer a AMD K6 equivalent to a P2 which is 4.5 years old and still works was never shut off unless I was going away for an extended amount of time or there was a bad thunderstorm in the area. I never shut my mail either,down except for the above reasons. When hubby built my new computer I gave my old one to my 6 year old niece and she uses it all the time and it still runs well, except for being a slower machine.
This one is only a month old and will never be shut off except for storms and holidays my email and other stuff runs 24/7. I don't think it makes much difference at all if you shut down or not. I am on cable and my internet runs 24/7 and is unlimited, so I don't worry about the cost of leaving my computer hooked up to the internet all the time and I have a firewall to prevent someone from accessng my computer. Any other thoughts on this?
Re: good/bad
by larama2002 - 4/18/04 8:09 PM In reply to: "turning off PC" = Good/Bad by tyrantigerMy computer started as an HP, but has been upgraded a decent amount. Just to save on electricity, I make mine hibernate whenever I'm not using it. I put it to sleep somewhere around 5 to 20 different times a day. Every once in a while, it will start to bog down during normal run, or I lose my broadband on wake-up. It is usually only at these instances that I actually do a full shutdown and reboot.
I haven't had any problem with the hard drive or motherboard since it's been out of warranty.
Re:
by countrymama - 4/18/04 8:11 PM In reply to: "turning off PC" = Good/Bad by tyrantigerI have left them on, and turned them off, But have a way of combining the two, And it works great, I set it to Always On in the day as soon as I get up, Then the last thing I do is set it to Home Office 15 min on all , Then 15 minutes it turns itself off, and good for all night. I have all my updates set for the morning when the computer is on, So it rests when I rest. Works Great!
Re: Turning off PC
by EricTP - 4/18/04 8:12 PM In reply to: "turning off PC" = Good/Bad by tyrantigerAs a general rule I always leave my PC on, unless I'm going to be away for an extended period of time. No screensaver but I do set my monitor to "power down" after 60 mins of non use.
Re: Turning Off Your PC
by rlares - 4/18/04 8:16 PM In reply to: "turning off PC" = Good/Bad by tyrantigerI am a big fan of turning off personal computers to save electricity when they are not in use.
Twenty years ago we left personal computers powered on because daily (or more often) cycling of the power was hard on the expensive computer components. In todays dollars, personal computers are relatively inexpensive and the quality of the components used in manufacturing computers has improved dramatically so there is generally no need worry about shortening the life of a computer by turning it off when it is not in use.
Large corporations do use automated tools to distribute software to personal computers. In order to not disrupt the workday, software is often distributed in the evenings or on weekends, requiring the computer remain powered on. However, even large corporations can be responsible by employing such technologies as "wake on LAN" to power up the computer when needed. Another approach would be to schedule when computers are to be left on, for example, leaving computers on during the first weekend of each month so that software can be distributed to the computer.
Re: turning off PC
by mbrazil - 4/18/04 8:20 PM In reply to: "turning off PC" = Good/Bad by tyrantigerI think it's a wash -- the initial surge of power when you turn a PC on is somewhat damaging to most components, but the number of hours running has as big an effect on motors and bearings in hard drives and cooling fans.
If the motor in your CPU cooler siezes up or slows down from excessive use, your processor will almost certainly be dead in almost no time, and the processor is one of the most expensive components to replace.
As far as hard drives are concerned, most of them that fail do so for reasons related to things other than motor or bearing failure.
That said, I turn mine off almost every evening when I get done using them, primarily to keep the electric bill under control.
Re:turning off PC" = Good/Bad
by rdinning - 4/18/04 8:22 PM In reply to: "turning off PC" = Good/Bad by tyrantigerI really can't answer with any certainty whether it's harder on a PC to turn it on and off, but I suspect you had better have better components like heat sinks and fans if you leave it on.
For me the better question is how would I get all that work done that gets done overnight if I turned the machine off. My machine does automatic backup, virus scan, hard drive optimization, firewall and virus updates, and several other things overnight when no one is using it to be slowed down by all this activity.
If I turned it off at night, then I would have to contend with all of this going on during the hours I use my machine.
Re: On or Off
by busdiew - 4/18/04 8:23 PM In reply to: "turning off PC" = Good/Bad by tyrantigerI leave mine on. In my experince the highest failure rate is during turn on. However, with that said if you do not use the computer everyday or near everday, maybe turning it off is not a bad idea. I do sleep the monitor. I beleive in the end it is somewhat a personal choice. I do turn them off during thunder storms and the like. So they do get turned off every now and then.
Also while I am not the biggest fan of Microsoft OS's I have machines that run Windows 2000 and XP and in general have few problem and do not reboot more than once every month or so. I have Linux, HP-UX and Solaris systems that have been running for months and have had not problems. So, with modern OS's I can not say that systems need to be rebooted all that often.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Re:Re: On or Off
by patoot - 4/18/04 8:41 PM In reply to: Re: On or Off by busdiewI agree that leaving a computer turned on will help it last longer, but only under the following circumstances:
1. Dust free environment
2. Temperature and humidity controlled
3. A high quality UPS with automated shutdown software must be used and maintained
4. Regular inspections to ensure CPU and case fans are running
5. Adequate firewall and virus protection whenever connected to a network or internet
Re:Re: On or Off
by nvdesert - 4/18/04 8:42 PM In reply to: Re: On or Off by busdiewI turn mine off when I'm not home or when asleep. The computer's in my bedroom and I used to leave it running all the time... until the fan died and it overheated in the wee hours of the morning. It didn't catch fire but from the smell I'd say it was pretty close.
I've also lost one computer to a power bump that got through my mid-priced surge protector. Now I power down, shut off, and UNPLUG my computer most of the time when I'm not using it.
Also, leaving the computer going all the time allows the fan to draw in dust and I live in the desert. The inside of the tower stays a LOT cleaner now.
nvdesert
Re: off or on?
by CindySue48 - 4/18/04 8:24 PM In reply to: "turning off PC" = Good/Bad by tyrantigerI shut mine off at night....to save electricity if nothing else.
The first computer I got I was told to leave it on for 30 days....continuously...the rationale was that if there was a factory defect it would show up within that 30 days. Not sure if that's true or not, but I've done it with all I've owned (3) and so far I've upgraded while my computers were still working fine.
Leave it on
by Geeky1 - 4/18/04 8:28 PM In reply to: "turning off PC" = Good/Bad by tyrantigerWhile it may be more energy efficient to turn the computer off when you're not using it, and while it most likely does put less wear and tear on the components to shut them off and then re-start them at a later time (assuming that you're talking about a reasonable amount of downtime; shutting down the computer for say, 5 minutes, is not good for it.
Besides, if you leave it on, you can run Folding @ Home (http://folding.stanford.edu , http://www.short-media.com/forum)
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