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Author Topic: Do you leave your PC on or turn it off when not using it? Stephen Frazza Expert Film Handler Posts: 161 From: Nutley, NJ, USA Registered: Mar 2004 posted 07-26-2004 02:09 PM                        Do you leave your PC on or turn it off when your not using it? Just got into a debate on this subject.I leave mine on when not using it but my roommate turns his off.Just curious as to what other people do and there thinking as to pros & cons of it. I have a Zone Alarm firewall and anti-virus and spyware software so i'm not worried about that the debate was more on supposed wear & tear on computer by leaving it running.  |  IP: Logged Jeremy Fuentes Mmmm, Dr. Pepper! Posts: 1168 From: Corpus Christi, TX United States Registered: Jan 2004 posted 07-26-2004 02:13 PM                     I turn mine off at work because its a government computer, and I dont want idiots trying to go in and mess with the work that I do. And trust me, there are some here.  |  IP: Logged Cory Isemann Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 500 From: White Plains, MD, USA Registered: Jun 2004 posted 07-26-2004 02:26 PM                        I leave mine on all the time. I have a UPS, but a small one. I just find it convenient not to have to wait for it to boot up every time I want to check my email.  |  IP: Logged Dan Lyons Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 698 From: Seal Beach, CA Registered: Sep 2002 posted 07-26-2004 02:36 PM                     I leave mine on all the time. No wonder it gets warm in my room... I only turn it off if i'm going to be away from home for a few days. danny  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 07-26-2004 02:47 PM                    Plusses of leaving it on: Less thermal cycling stress on semiconductors. If the disks stay spinning (aren't told to spin down by power management) there are fewer head "landings" to cause wear and kick up particles. Minuses: Disk drive and fan bearings have a finite life. Wasted power, and during cooling season air conditioning power to remove the heat. During the heating season it's just that much less heat your heating system must create. If you have electric resistance heating your electricity for anything you use in the house whether computers and electronics or light bulbs is essentially free since all that energy eventually turns into heat. No reason to turn anything off. If you have another type of heat the cost is only the differential in price between electric energy and whatever you use.  |  IP: Logged Paul Cassidy Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 549 From: Auckland, New Zealand Registered: Aug 2001 posted 07-26-2004 02:52 PM                        I only leave mine on if I'm doing DVD rendering or something that takes a long time , otherwise the noise can make it hard to sleep (I have 3 PCs set up in my Room) so it sounds like a plane in flight when all 3 are going  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 07-26-2004 03:27 PM                        I set mine to hibernate if I'm away for more than 30 minutes. I shut it down totally if I know I'm going to be away for more than an hour.  |  IP: Logged Robert E. Allen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1078 From: Checotah, Oklahoma Registered: Jul 2002 posted 07-26-2004 03:52 PM                     I turn mine on when I get up and leave it on until I go to bed. I know what you mean about the fan thing. I waiting for my computer guy to come and change a growling fan now.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 07-26-2004 04:24 PM                     Sometimes I'll leave my computer on for days at a time, but usually after several hours of use I shut down the system before going to bed. As Paul mentioned, the noise of the fans and such can keep you awake. I'll shut down other items more often for the issue of security. Steven mentioned having Zone Alarm and Norton Anti Virus. Those two things are not an absolute safety net. That's not a suggestion those programs lack value; any user should indeed have those things as well as anti-spyware tools and routine methods of data back-up. I'm just saying you cannot let down your guard based on those programs alone. Some "black hat crackers" can get through that stuff and attack your machine regardless of what security software you are running. Before I purchased my Linksys Cable/DSL router, I used PPPoE software (Enternet300) for accessing my DSL connection. I could log and log out. With the router, the connection is effectively always on. So whenever I am away from my machine, I turn off my DSL modem. That totally severs the connection making the machine "stand-alone."  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-26-2004 04:42 PM                     I leave mine on all the time except when I'm on a aroad trip like now. The longest it stays on is probably 6 months at a stretch because every 6 months it gets stripped down and the dust gets blown out... It gets quite dusty after 6 months even though its s server case and has air filters. i haave lost disk drives in the past but not sibnce I have left it powered up which is about two years now. Mark @ CLACO  |  IP: Logged Jennifer Pan THE JEN! Posts: 1219 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: Nov 2003 posted 07-26-2004 04:44 PM                        Off whenever not in use. I'm just weird that way!  |  IP: Logged Phil Hill I love my cootie bug Posts: 7595 From: Hollywood, CA USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 07-26-2004 04:57 PM                  quote: Paul Mayer I set mine to hibernate if I'm away for more than 30 minutes. I shut it down totally if I know I'm going to be away for more than an hour. Me too. I used to leave them on all the time, but a friends house burned down cuz of a malfunction in his computer... I think it was a MAC. (That ought to fire up Joe and Manny!) HAhahahaha While I know that is a rare and remote possibility, I shut them all down like Paul mentions. I even open the 225-amp main service breaker to my house at night. I personally wired this place and I know the quality of the workmanship and I certainly don't want an electrical fire. Electrics are dangerous, ya know!. >>> Phil  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 07-26-2004 05:11 PM                        quote: Phil Hill I even open the 225-amp main service breaker to my house at night. What about the food in the fridge? The only reason I don't open the master breaker for the whole flat if I'm going to be away for a few days is that there is a light on a timer in order to make potential burglars think that the place is still occupied. I do power the computer down completely. Not only do I physically unplug it from the mains but I also disconnect it from the 'phone line, too. This dates from when my first modem was fried during a thunderstorm in the late '90s, when they were still quite expensive (it cost me around £50 to replace it). Nowadays 56k modems are pretty much given away and internal ADSL ones only cost around £15, but old habits die hard...  |  IP: Logged Brian Michael Weidemann Expert cat molester Posts: 944 From: Costa Mesa, CA United States Registered: Feb 2004 posted 07-26-2004 05:22 PM                        Mine is on all the time. I sleep about six feet from where the CPU is, but the fans are never distracting to the point of not sleeping. In fact, my microphones do a decent job not picking the background noise either when I'm recording. But then, I don't have one of them newfangled computers requiring an array of blast fans to keep them running at terrestrial temperatures.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 07-26-2004 06:02 PM                        My PC is on all of the time. It is a server and you don't turn off servers. I put my Mac to sleep when I go to sleep because it has an Apple Cinema Display attached, and they cannot be turned off. I don't want it shining in my face while I try to sleep. Also the power fan oscillates slower and faster... slower and faster, which gets very annoying.  |  IP: Logged

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