computer on or off?

[Tracy]

Is it better on the life of your computer to turn it off
each time you will be away from it for a few hours or
leave it on ?

 

[Ramesh]

For a few hours no problem, you can put it in Standby. If it is a long
duration, better power it OFF (less wear and tear)

Hibernation is also a better option. IT powers the unit off after copying
the RAM contents to disk..

Ramesh

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP-Windows Shell/User\)]

And just to add to Ramesh, if you leave your system on 24/7, unless you have
a backup power supply (UPS-Uninterruptible Power Supply) with software that
will automatically shut the computer down in case of a power failure, brown
out or other type of power problem, it's safer to shut it down when
unattended for long periods such as over night.

There are people who leave their computers on 24/7, most have the above and
while I've not heard of anyone having an issue because of leaving it on all
the time, you should remember, the enemy of electronic components is heat
and it's usually a good idea to give components a chance to "rest" and cool
down.

 

[Lorne Smith]

That said though... components tend to get to the same temperature and stay
there. CPU temps only go up when there's a lot of activity and that doesn't
tend to happen if you're not using it at the time. Apart from reboots
caused by that bleeping windows update site, I've not restarted my PC in
over a year and have no problems at all... Just keep it well ventilated...


There are many different opinions on leaving your computer on. As many for
as against. If it's only going to be a couple of hours you may as well just
put it in standby, but otherwise, unless you NEED it on 24/7 (like I do),
then there's really no point... The wear & tear issue isn't really relevant
as the hardware will become well obsolete before such things could matter...

Lorne

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP-Windows Shell/User\)]

Agreed, but people shouldn't forget to have a good UPS with software that
will automatically shut the system down if there's some sort of power
outage.

 

[Rockiebattles411]

-----Original Message-----
Is it better on the life of your computer to turn it off
each time you will be away from it for a few hours or
leave it on ?
.
I don't know if this helps any, but I like to put my

computer into hibernation when I'm gonna be away for a
period of time. That way (is my thinking, anyway), you
get the best of both worlds:

Your system shuts down completely, plus your latest
session in windows is saved so that you can simply turn
the system on and go back to where you left off-plus you
can leave some programs open (but no internet or media
programs - I already tried that), and they're still open
when you bring the system out of hibernation.

Hope this helps.

Thank you,

Rashid A. Battles/ (e-mail address removed)