Leave on or turn off?

**Millertime** · 08 February 2007, 12:55 AM

Here's the perverbial question do you leave your computer on 24 hours a day or only turn it only when your using it? Referring to your home computer. Me I turn it on when I want to use it then turn it off when I am done. Only if I know I will be using it later in the day I will leave on but will turn off at night. May have something to due with the fact that I don't like to leave something on when I am not at home (work) or asleep**. You also get different opionions on which is better for the computer.

** Aside from the necessities fridge,heat, AC,light for the cat at nite when I'm not home

, etc

**Soquili** · 08 February 2007, 01:35 AM

I turn my personal computers off when not using them.

**Egg Bramhill** · 08 February 2007, 02:45 AM

I switch the monitors off but I leave the computer running continuosly unless I really have to do a restart to claim back my memory. No science based reasons. The monitor is switched off to save the planet, the computer is left on to save me having to wait for windows to reboot. Being "Green" is all about compromise after all!

It's an interesting question though. Is it better for your hardware to operate at a constant temperature continuosly or have it heat up / cool down between spells of idleness?

**jyoung** · 08 February 2007, 03:08 AM

I shut mine down, unless I forget. I think the hardware has advanced to a point that the initial power up doesn't have the surge as in the old days. Course it's been a long time since my electronics training back when diodes and transistors were still in their infancy (I even saw the occasional vacuum tube).

Joe

**Soquili** · 08 February 2007, 03:18 AM

The current power supplies do not produce the surge that was present in older models.

Joe I remember when a diode was a type of vacuum tube (valve to our British friends

)

When I joined the Air Force readouts on equipment were dials or 'modern' nixie tubes on the newest equipment.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixie_tube to see a nixie tube in action.

**BlueFlare** · 08 February 2007, 03:28 AM

I turn it off when I don't use it for a longer time, simply because it saves me energy and because don't like to expose my PC to the internet unnecessary while I'm away, either sleeping or out of the house. Also we live in an area where we have a few nasty thunderstorms every year and although I bought a good surge protector for my power and network connection, I'm not 100% going to rely on it while asleep (for good reasons).

Originally Posted by jyoung

I think the hardware has advanced to a point that the initial power up doesn't have the surge as in the old days.

That shouldn't be the main concern, it's the heating up and cooling down of the components that should be more of a concern (but only a very little concern if you ask me). How much the negative effect is in the long run is unclear, however I did have a bad motherboard in a 4 year old PC at home that I blame on turning the PC on/off all the time, but then again I work as a system administrator since '87 and I've seen very few PCs fail that people turn off when they leave work.

**parahandy** · 08 February 2007, 02:54 PM

Have used computers for many years now ,I always switch them off when not in use and have never had any adverse effects because of it. In any case my computer boots up in 1 minute.

**WolfMoonHP** · 08 February 2007, 03:09 PM

Three of the four computers in my house are on continuously. The only one that ever gets turned off is the laptop that commutes to and from my other half's office.

Even when I'm not sitting at the computers, they are always busy. I am part of the SETI (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) project, and my computers are continuously analyzing data.

http://seti.berkeley.edu/
---
Will

**ankhor** · 08 February 2007, 04:16 PM

Originally Posted by Egg Bramhill

I switch the monitors off but I leave the computer running continuosly unless I really have to do a restart to claim back my memory. No science based reasons. The monitor is switched off to save the planet, the computer is left on to save me having to wait for windows to reboot. Being "Green" is all about compromise after all!

It's an interesting question though. Is it better for your hardware to operate at a constant temperature continuosly or have it heat up / cool down between spells of idleness?

The thing is, half of the programs that think that they NEED to be on your
computer at startup, aren`t that important. It would be so much easier if those programmers would include an option to get them of the startup sequence. At a time this was possible, but now the ego`s of these
companies or programmers are so high that they think they are God and that
their program is absolutely neccesary on startup. Take real player,
just click it once and it will re-appear on your start up.
If mister Bill Gates would make it so that only programs are allowed
on that sartup part IF they have an EASY option to remove them there,
start up wouldn`t be such a pain in the (censored

).

I use sleepmode too, if I want to stop for a while.

**ankhor** · 08 February 2007, 04:17 PM

Originally Posted by WolfMoonHP

Three of the four computers in my house are on continuously. The only one that ever gets turned off is the laptop that commutes to and from my other half's office.

Even when I'm not sitting at the computers, they are always busy. I am part of the SETI (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) project, and my computers are continuously analyzing data.

http://seti.berkeley.edu/
---
Will

And yet all that raw calculating power hasn`t been able to find me yet.
Oops,........ I spoke out loud?