Road Runner
Free Member
Do you leave your puter on 24/7 or switch off every night?
Constantly on or switch off?
- Thread starter Road Runner
- Start date
L
Lindy-C
Deleted User
Off at night 
Tony Santara
Free Member
I switch off the Pewter every night
But leave the home hub switched on......Just incase someone wants to pinch my internet connection
But leave the home hub switched on......Just incase someone wants to pinch my internet connection
OP
OP
Road Runner
Free Member
I was told/misinformed that leaving them on was better for the hard drive.
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Tony Santara
Free Member
I've heard that too... but thinking of the leccy meter whizzing round
OP
OP
Road Runner
Free Member
Updates to the router are usually sent for automatic download overnight when you are ( supposedly ) not using the computer. I inadvertently switched mine off at 1 am a few weeks ago in the middle of a download. It took ages and a couple of quite long and expensive phone calls to get it sorted. So my advice would be to leave the router on and switch the computer off.
Phil.
Phil.
Jim
Ringleader
IMO You should turn it off John, the electricity you save will be considerable and the reboot will do wonders for your system speed. If you must leave it on for backups or updates, unplugging the monitor from the mains is a good idea too.
moandick
Free Member
Computer on or off at night?
The way it was explained to me (in layman terms that I could understand) many, many moons ago was:
The most dangerous part of climbing a ladder is when you are going up or down because you have to take a hand or a foot off a rung and you become unbalanced. At the top or the bottom you are standing still fully supported and therefore are much less likely to unbalance.
Replace the ladder with a computer and the most dangerous 'time' for a computer is when it is 'winding' itself up at the start (or down at the end) because of the hundreds, if not thousands, of applications the computer is trying to open or close and so many things which can be misdirected or simply go wrong. Under those circumstances it was considered that once the computer is up and running properly then leave it alone - it is much safer.
HOWEVER - that really does depend upon a safe and secure power supply, hence the reason so many 'firms' have emergency power systems which allow the computer to close down properly in the event of a power failure. The likelyhood of a power failure at home. or especially on a site, is very real indeed - and the damage that a power failure can do is absolutely frightening and can be very expensive in corrupted files and programs. Most battery back-up systems are heavy and expensive and are not really suitable for small home/office users.
In summary, if you can afford a 'nerd' to sort out every computer crash then leave it switched on - otherwise turn it off, save money and sleep easier.
The way it was explained to me (in layman terms that I could understand) many, many moons ago was:
The most dangerous part of climbing a ladder is when you are going up or down because you have to take a hand or a foot off a rung and you become unbalanced. At the top or the bottom you are standing still fully supported and therefore are much less likely to unbalance.
Replace the ladder with a computer and the most dangerous 'time' for a computer is when it is 'winding' itself up at the start (or down at the end) because of the hundreds, if not thousands, of applications the computer is trying to open or close and so many things which can be misdirected or simply go wrong. Under those circumstances it was considered that once the computer is up and running properly then leave it alone - it is much safer.
HOWEVER - that really does depend upon a safe and secure power supply, hence the reason so many 'firms' have emergency power systems which allow the computer to close down properly in the event of a power failure. The likelyhood of a power failure at home. or especially on a site, is very real indeed - and the damage that a power failure can do is absolutely frightening and can be very expensive in corrupted files and programs. Most battery back-up systems are heavy and expensive and are not really suitable for small home/office users.
In summary, if you can afford a 'nerd' to sort out every computer crash then leave it switched on - otherwise turn it off, save money and sleep easier.
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X
Xoxoc
Deleted User
A 'reason' to leave it on all the time?
When you turn a pc off everything cools down - including the metal conductors on components...
The cooling and re-heating of these metal parts will of course cause them to expand and contract ant this can be enough to cause component failure.
A reason to switch off?
If your PC has a sudden power failure, when you try and switch it back on you may find that it will not boot up. The OS can be fried forcing you to re-install your operating system. You may lose data also.
By all means if your PC is not 'doing' anything whilst you sleep/work (EG. Downloading, acting as a server, controlling home automation, acting as a CCTV recorder, recording TV etc.) then switch it off. The chances of losing data are greater than that of component failure. You'll also save a few quid on electricity.
AND if the reason you leave it on all the time is because it takes sooooo long to boot up then why not use Hibernate? Hibernate copies the current state of your session to the HDD in a file and then shuts down the PC. When you switch on it loads this file and you are back where you left off but much sooner
Bryan
When you turn a pc off everything cools down - including the metal conductors on components...
The cooling and re-heating of these metal parts will of course cause them to expand and contract ant this can be enough to cause component failure.
A reason to switch off?
If your PC has a sudden power failure, when you try and switch it back on you may find that it will not boot up. The OS can be fried forcing you to re-install your operating system. You may lose data also.
By all means if your PC is not 'doing' anything whilst you sleep/work (EG. Downloading, acting as a server, controlling home automation, acting as a CCTV recorder, recording TV etc.) then switch it off. The chances of losing data are greater than that of component failure. You'll also save a few quid on electricity.
AND if the reason you leave it on all the time is because it takes sooooo long to boot up then why not use Hibernate? Hibernate copies the current state of your session to the HDD in a file and then shuts down the PC. When you switch on it loads this file and you are back where you left off but much sooner
Bryan
Munchie
LIFE MEMBER
A 'reason' to leave it on all the time?
When you turn a pc off everything cools down - including the metal conductors on components...
The cooling and re-heating of these metal parts will of course cause them to expand and contract ant this can be enough to cause component failure.
A reason to switch off?
If your PC has a sudden power failure, when you try and switch it back on you may find that it will not boot up. The OS can be fried forcing you to re-install your operating system. You may lose data also.
By all means if your PC is not 'doing' anything whilst you sleep/work (EG. Downloading, acting as a server, controlling home automation, acting as a CCTV recorder, recording TV etc.) then switch it off. The chances of losing data are greater than that of component failure. You'll also save a few quid on electricity.
AND if the reason you leave it on all the time is because it takes sooooo long to boot up then why not use Hibernate? Hibernate copies the current state of your session to the HDD in a file and then shuts down the PC. When you switch on it loads this file and you are back where you left off but much sooner
Bryan
:thumb:That all makes good sense Bryan. :thumb:
johnsandywhite
Free Member
:Cool: I put mine on for an hour (or less) in the morning and arouind 1 1/2 hours in the evening/ The only time I used to leave our FULL size computer on over night, was when I was downloading movies.
Bulletguy
Free Member
On.....or switch off??
There is quite a bit of paranoia about viruses, crashes, fried components etc etc. A bit like insisting on keeping the pc room a smoke and dust free environment. It makes me wonder sometimes how some folk even dare to switch the damn thing on!
In ten years of computing i've had two major 'crashes' during internet surfing which meant a reformat, endless viruses all dealt with by the AV program i use, and as i live in a village away from any major towns or cities, power cuts are the accepted 'norm'. Living in a town or city means you will be less prone to power cuts than someone living in rural or semi rural areas.
Use a good AV program to sort out any possible viruses and spyware, a good quality power surge protecter such as Belkin which will protect from lightning strikes or sudden power fluctuation, and a program such as Mailwasher which enables you to read email before opening it to OE.
I've often left my pc running over an entire weekend when i've been at home. The bottom line is it is using electricity.
If you don't want to pay for it......switch it off!
There is quite a bit of paranoia about viruses, crashes, fried components etc etc. A bit like insisting on keeping the pc room a smoke and dust free environment. It makes me wonder sometimes how some folk even dare to switch the damn thing on!
In ten years of computing i've had two major 'crashes' during internet surfing which meant a reformat, endless viruses all dealt with by the AV program i use, and as i live in a village away from any major towns or cities, power cuts are the accepted 'norm'. Living in a town or city means you will be less prone to power cuts than someone living in rural or semi rural areas.
Use a good AV program to sort out any possible viruses and spyware, a good quality power surge protecter such as Belkin which will protect from lightning strikes or sudden power fluctuation, and a program such as Mailwasher which enables you to read email before opening it to OE.
I've often left my pc running over an entire weekend when i've been at home. The bottom line is it is using electricity.
If you don't want to pay for it......switch it off!
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