Shut Down Nightly vs 24/7 Studies?

[gregrocker]

I agree with letting the Power Options do the work.

I like to be able to walk away without concern about saving my work whether I come back in an hour or a week. If I set sleep to 30 minutes it is at the ready to jerk back awake if I quickly return, then after an hour I let it hibernate which is the same as shutting down - except that it writes what was left out on the desktop to the HD and starts back up much quicker.

All good reasons for using the modern Power Saving features perfected in Win7.

If I don't have a mandated restart for Updates every few days then I restart anyway.

 

[Sbrideau]

I like to use the sleep function, and do a complete shut down at least once a month to clear the memory, and other junk that can get in there.

I do not know of any actual studies for this though.

 

[Infinite]

I shut down every 12 hours at least.

 

[wanchoo]

There may not be any definitive studies on whether to shut sown or leave the computer on but my gut feeling as a retired mechanical engineer is to shut down the computer when not in use for one hour and over like almost any other machine.

Apart from fans gathering dust and wastage of energy another reason would be to reduce the chances of the computer getting fried due to spikes especially during a storm. True the spikes can occur at any time but at least they wouldn't damage the computer when it is shut down.

 

[dreamer]

Jack1953, My recommendation is to shut down if your not going to be using it for a while. Especially any laptops.
Leaving the computer on allows the fans to keep sucking in dust which over time could impede the heat sink on your processor. This is not good.

Just my opinion.

Rich

This advice is the best IMO.I found it the hard way when recently dust accumulated near heat sink and it completely blocked out the fans.Had to bring to technician to open case and clean everything out.

 

[Britton30]

I have a 7 year-old Compaq which was born with XP and evolved to Win 7 which is always on except for once every few weeks shut down to dust it out. I do however shut off my LCD monitor daily.

 

[JMH]

Energy consumption here is of no concern as we produce our own Solar Power...{ & sell surplus to the grid}
Computers not being used "enjoy" sleep mode.
Rebooting is carried out if / when necessary.

 

[flirno]

I am shocked............I would have bet the house that 95% of you guys leave it on all the time. Well that just "shows to go ya" that when someone knows everything (as I do), that they can even be wrong.

Startup/Shutdown is very fast for me but to begin with I never left my computer on if I was going to be away from it for more than a few hours. I tend to have gaming rigs with a lot of components and they do suck up a lot of power.

Also I would never leave a computer with SSDs on 24/7.

 

[Layback Bear]

Other than a few seconds of boot time what is the advantage of leaving a computer non server on 24/7? I'm slow in the brain so type slow so I can understand it.

 

[M1GU31]

I turn my off every time i stop using it and have hibernate disabled, I believe that a computer will last longer if you let it rest because they will not wear out from extensive long use for example the fans spinning 24/7 will ware them out and the psu and the rest of the system always sucking out power will 1 get you a bigger electric bill and possibly shorten the life of the psu.Although this is what i believe and i'm not saying it will. This is the way i see it so i turn mine off daily when not using it and rarely leave it on by itself on idle unless im making a big file or downloading somthing. Other then that i turn it off.

 

[seavixen32]

I always switch my computer off if ever I'm away from it for any length of time.

Energy prices are high as it is and I just don't see the sense in wasting it.

 

[bassfisher6522]

I am shocked............I would have bet the house that 95% of you guys leave it on all the time. Well that just "shows to go ya" that when someone knows everything (as I do), that they can even be wrong.

That's just good TV right there......:roflmao:

Personally, I shut down at night or in the event I'm going to be gone for an extended period of time.

 

[Mystere]

I leave my computer on 24/7, but I'm probably not the typical person. Why do I leave it on? Lots of reasons.

1) I'm lazy (ok, so this is 99% of it)

2) I typically have a lot of work that I leave open. I don't like having to reopen files and find my position in documents. I also tend to have a lot of browser tabs open for later reading, and don't wish to have to save these locations. Granted, sleep and hybernate would allow me to do this, but I prefer having everything on and ready when I sit down, and don't like the wait for resuming.

3) I often have programs that run when i'm away. My disk defragmenter runs when the computer is idle, and I have virtual machines that work as my servers for developing software.

I don't think the wear and tear argument is all that strong. Also, the argument people have made about power surges is not correct. Your computer will be fried whether it is running or not if a surge occurs. The reason is that the surge will jump circuits, and arc switches. Plus, all computers these days have some small circuit draw to enable the soft power-on switch, so the difference between on and not is minimal with this regard.

It all boils down to your needs. If you benefit from leaving it on, and the financial cost of the energy is acceptable, then do so. If not, then don't. It's a relatively easy choice.

 

[chris1neji]

I personally don't shut off my computer.
I am a 24/7 my reasons

Programs usually running while i am away. There are many times that i need to get a file transfer. Sometimes i need to connect remotely to this computer either from work, friends house or on the road.

Family accesses files.

I enjoy having my programs open and ready on the go. Todays computer are much more energy effecient than older models.

One thing I do shut off is always the monitor.

 

[ReviverSoft]

I shut them down if I'm not going to use them for a while. Also have a few power saving features enabled.

 

[pasquanel]

I use the win 7 power control all the time and reboot only when necessary.
Sleep after 30 min Hibernate after 1 hour.

 

[Layback Bear]

I personally don't shut off my computer.
I am a 24/7 my reasons

Programs usually running while i am away. There are many times that i need to get a file transfer. Sometimes i need to connect remotely to this computer either from work, friends house or on the road.

Family accesses files.

I enjoy having my programs open and ready on the go. Todays computer are much more energy effecient than older models.

One thing I do shut off is always the monitor.

I can understand leaving it on because you use it remotely.

 

[bigmck]

Other than a few seconds of boot time what is the advantage of leaving a computer non server on 24/7? I'm slow in the brain so type slow so I can understand it.

The reason I leave mine on is for the updates to Windows etc and also that is when my backups run.

 

[bigmck]

I enjoy having my programs open and ready on the go. Todays computer are much more energy effecient than older models.

One thing I do shut off is always the monitor.

I leave my PC and monitor on 24/7. Why do you turn the monitor off. If the screen is black, what is the difference?

 

[serpentracer]

I know of a few computers (at work) that are left on 24/7 and they're very old (pentium 3 old) and they're still working.
I've never had a computer last that long. the hard drive has always failed in that time.

so seeing how long those 2 have lasted I started to leave one of mine on (starting in 2007). well not actually on on but in sleep mode. and the other one off all the way. my conclusion after having the one I turn off had 2 hard drives fail... it does seem to keep the hard drives from failing so often.