The title basically spells it out. I would like to know if leaving my WiFi switch on my laptop on all the time is a bad idea? Would I see any performance hit because my system is constantly looking for a WiFi signal?
I leave my switch on all the time and have never seen any performance hit. It would be mighty inconvenient to keep it switched off, then switch it on everytime I need to use the internet.
And your system is not constantly looking for a wifi signal. Once you've connected to your home network, it would stay connected to that.
When you use a wired connection, disable the wifi connection in Network and Sharing Center or alternatively turn that hardware switch off. You will only use either of them at any given point of time.
theres not peformance difference the main thing is it will use battery. if ur using ethernet should just turn it off.
You might or might not notice a slight performance hit if you leave this switched on. My advice is that you switch this off, both at your computer AND the router if using an Ethernet connection for security reasons. Only enable it if you are going to use wireless, and always ensure that you use WPA2 security as a bare minimum.
You shouldn't see any negatives, but it is just a switch. It was designed to make this a simple, quick process. What's the big deal about flipping a switch? I switch mine off when I'm not using Wi-Fi because I can see a difference in time between login and usable desktop with the switch off...if I'm not using Wi-Fi, of course.
I agree with the other responders - turning it off eliminates the normal security issues that come with using wireless. So if not using wireless, that alone is good enough reason to turn it off. And also, turning it off conserves battery resources, if on battery. And if on the charger/power supply, it will ease demand on the power supply/regulator circuits, which will (if only a little) reduce the generation of heat - always a good thing.
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