Question for computer guru

[Midlodemocrat]

...is it better to leave my machine on all the time or shut it down at night? Sometimes I forget to shut it down because it is in my office and I get busy with the kids. Which is less taxing for the computer? Thanks.

[are_we_united_yet]

1. My opinion

leave it on. There are pro's and cons to both but I choose leaving it on.

It is only my opinion.

[Midlodemocrat]

2. Thanks!

[Cooley Hurd]

5. I agree...

Leave it on, but reboot at least once a week (to get rid of runaway processes that might be choking up resources).

By leaving it on (opposed to turning it off every night), you subject it to less warming and cooling cycles. As you know, things expand when heated, and contract when cool. This happens to the solder on your motherboard, as well. Leaving it on means it's subject to less expansion and contraction, because it's always warm, and you motherboard's lifespan will be increased...

[rooboy]

3. I leave all my pc's on all the time...

but make sure the monitors are shut off, because they draw a hell of a lot of current.

Windows-based machines should be rebooted once every week or so, just to keep the performance at an acceptable level. Some programs can suffer from a thing called "memory leak", which leaves your computer consuming more and more memory as time progresses.

[MSgt213]

4. Doesn't really matter. But if you are running anti virus software and

other anti bullshit from the internet software you should have those updating overnight so leave it on.

[Kellanved]

6. shut it down

It uses up a lot of energy and the thermal stress to the hard drive(s), the PSU and other wear parts should not be ignored.
If you leave it on, use a standby mode , which basically shuts everything down except the memory - the computer will be ready to use almost instantly.


On Edit:
Leaving the PC running for a whole week means using about 33kWh. I don't know how expensive power is in your neck of the woods, but with the enviromental aspect aside, you might just as well throw the money out of the window.

[Midlodemocrat]

7. My husband was trying to tell me something about

the fan being overworked? What does that mean? Is he right? I do shut mine down occasionally, but the one in the sun room stays on all the time.

[BlueEyedSon]

8. Leave it on unless you are worried about lightening strikes/brownouts

[PaulaFarrell]

9. shut it down

if you care at all about global warming. also, in my company, we are forced to, as a computer left on started a fire which gutted the office

[Midlodemocrat]

11. That was another concern I had

...starting a fire.

[bowens43]

10. I'm in the 'leave it on' camp

Use the power saving features.

[motely36]

12. What about laptops

Someone told me that if you leave a laptop on all the time, plugged in, it can still affect the battery. Anyone know if this is true. I would rather leave mine on all the time.

[CornField]

13. Our entire network stays up all the time --

The only exception is if we are leaving town for more than a couple days.

Turning a computer on and off causes stress as parts heat up and cool down dramatically. It's better to leave them on and use power saving features.

[Kellanved]

14. IMHO not

The stress of keeping it running is far greater than the stress of booting up. With enabled power saving features it is about the same - most wear parts (HDs) are shut down in power savings mode anyway.

Also, a unsupervised PC is endangered; just consider what might happen with a failing fan; the auto-shutdown might or might not work.

Especially HDs and CPUs, about the most expensive parts of a PC, have a far higher danger of failing when used without breaks.

Considering that a running PC uses up to 200W of power, a "power-saving" one ca 50W and a "shut down" one about 20W, I have to wonder about the power prices in the US. Over here, it would raise my annual Energy bill by about €200 to keep the PC running; and that's not even considering the environmental implications .