| Author |
Message |
    
composerjohn
Citizen
Username: Composerjohn
Post Number: 69
Registered: 8-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, December 4, 2004 - 11:07 pm: |     |
Is it better to keep a computer running all the time or turn it off at the end of the day? Give me your pros and cons. Thanks! |
monster
Citizen
Username: Monster
Post Number: 399
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Sunday, December 5, 2004 - 12:07 am: | |
It really doesn't hurt to leave them on, they don't use much power when sleeping.
My B&W G3 has been on for the better part of 6 years and is still going strong. I'm not saying that it hasn't been restarted, it just never gets turned off and left off. The same goes for my homegrown pc too.
On the other hand, some people say that shutting a computer down and powering it up every day causes more stress on the electrical components and will shorten the pc's life, with the state of technology we are at today, I think that this doesn't much matter.
The iBook I am currently on is almost always on too, I just close it up when I walk away, or leave it open and let it go to sleep on it's own. I can't think of the last time it was shut down for more than a couple of minutes. I'm do for a restart soon, seeing that I have a couple of updates that will result in a restart upon applying them, then it will stay up for days, weeks and even months at a time. |
mjc
Citizen
Username: Mjc
Post Number: 46
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, December 5, 2004 - 4:57 pm: | |
I'd like to hear more pros and cons too.
At work, we're instructed to turn our computers off at the end of each day, with I think the idea that a fresh start in the morning minimizes errors/crud that may have crept in, similar to rebooting when there's a problem (sorry, I'm deeply non-technical). However, the central server is left on, and does its backup at night.
At home, my husband has the computer set for virus scan and backup in the middle of the night, so obviously it has to stay on, but I hate the hum and wonder about energy use. |
Dave
Moderator
Username: Dave
Post Number: 4609
Registered: 4-1998
| | Posted on Sunday, December 5, 2004 - 10:26 pm: | |
Many computers are set up to perform various "housekeeping" duties in the off-hours, which is a good reason to leave them on. Also, my computers run back-ups overnight. |
Spare_o
Citizen
Username: Spare_o
Post Number: 158
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, December 5, 2004 - 11:22 pm: | |
I am a non-IT person working in an IT department. I know that we often push out patches upon reboot. For a home computer, it's probably not necessary to turn it on and off every night. That being said, I turn all my equipment off at the power strip / surge protector every night. I guess it's something my mom probably ingrained in me... |
Dave
Moderator
Username: Dave
Post Number: 4611
Registered: 4-1998
| | Posted on Sunday, December 5, 2004 - 11:45 pm: | |
If you do that, how does the computer get your coffee ready in the morning? |
monster
Citizen
Username: Monster
Post Number: 403
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Sunday, December 5, 2004 - 11:59 pm: | |
Turning your computer, printer, etc. is a bad thing to do. On computers it is best to let them shut down the way they are supposed too, let them go through the proper steps, the same goes for printers.
On inkjet printers the cartridges will not come to a rest in the proper spot and the ink will dry, resulting in a clogges or semi clogged jet.
On a computer you may damage files and contribute to fragmentation. Even if you have saved all the files you have been working with, there are processes and services running in the background that can become corrupted, other data and programs may also get scrambled. |
Spare_o
Citizen
Username: Spare_o
Post Number: 159
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Monday, December 6, 2004 - 12:06 am: | |
Monster--Should have been clearer. I shut down and then hit the switch on the surge protector... |
monster
Citizen
Username: Monster
Post Number: 404
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Monday, December 6, 2004 - 12:06 am: | |
good job  |
magmasystems
Citizen
Username: Magmasystems
Post Number: 266
Registered: 1-2002
| | Posted on Monday, December 6, 2004 - 6:14 am: | |
From what I remember, the original reason that it was recommended that people should not turn their computers on and off was to avoid damaging the capacitors and preventing current drains and surges to the memory chips.
From what I remember of my basic electronics, a capacitor is an electrical device that stores current and discharges it at the proper time. It is used to provide the steadiness of the DC current that your computer needs. Turning a computer off will slowly drain the capacitor of its current, and turning the computer on will flood the capacitor with a sudden rush of current.
I am pretty sure that if the capacitor goes down for the count, so will your computer, although there might be some sort of fuse protection in the power supply. And power supplies are so cheap and easy to install that, if your power supply dies, it is simple to pop in a new one.
Marc @ millburnweb.com
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monster
Citizen
Username: Monster
Post Number: 405
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Monday, December 6, 2004 - 12:22 pm: | |
Marc makes a good point about causing damage to the electrical components of the computer. I know that it was a bigger issue on older computers than it is now (in using the strip switch for shut down), except perhaps where your RAM is concerned.
It's possible that flipping that switch on the power supply would have the same effect as surge caused by lightning or some other electrical disturbance coming through the lines. |
Tom Reingold
Citizen
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 4711
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Monday, December 13, 2004 - 1:50 pm: | |
Also, I believe the leading edge of a current can do damage to circuits, which is a case for leaving things on. Things to last longer when they are not power cycled often.
On the other hand, the cost to run the appliances could go up from keeping them on. Furthermore, you may be saving your equipment by keeping them on, but you are using energy which (1) costs you money, (2) depletes the world's supplies, and (3) creates more pollution.
At work, I think the equation leans towards leaving things on, but at home, it isn't so clear. We use our home computer a heck of a lot, so I prefer to leave it on, but if you don't use yours much, it might be worthwhile to turn it on only when you need it.
It's virtually impossible to do a quantitative cost/benefit analysis of this. You increase the likelihood of damaging your equipment when you cycle the power, but no one really knows what that likelihood is nor what the cost of the damage is. And wattmeters are not common tools, either, to measure your appliance's consumption. Does anyone even know what we pay for a kilowatthour?
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monster
Citizen
Username: Monster
Post Number: 422
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Monday, December 13, 2004 - 4:02 pm: | |
kWh@ $0.053782961 that's how much per kilowatt hour
get your watt meter here, http://www.smarthome.com/9055.HTML
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Starletta8
Citizen
Username: Starletta8
Post Number: 20
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 14, 2004 - 4:32 pm: | |
From the perspective of pure laziness and ease of access, nothing beats stumbling towards the computer in the morning with the morning coffee to check the weather and read the paper. Having to turn the computer on would slow that down quite a bit. 
Also, you didn't mention what OS your computer is running. My parents still run a Windows 98 machine that takes literally 5 minutes to start up and shut down. It's easier to keep it on and restart periodically. |
Tom Reingold
Citizen
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 4750
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 14, 2004 - 5:40 pm: | |
Thread drift: I remember someone discovered a bug in Windows 98 that caused the system to crash if it stayed up for 49 days. Not many people encountered the bug, because it's virtually impossible to keep a Win98 system up for that long. |
Mergele
Citizen
Username: Mergele
Post Number: 211
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 14, 2004 - 7:10 pm: | |
My SO has recently taken to leaving multiple SPARC workstations, as well as several motley... umm 'antique' computers of other varieties running 24x7, in an attempt to prove that it's more economical to heat his apartment with computers than natural gas. |
Dave
Moderator
Username: Dave
Post Number: 4677
Registered: 4-1998
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 15, 2004 - 12:54 am: | |
MOL started out on a SPARC 10 |
Tom Reingold
Citizen
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 4764
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 15, 2004 - 4:51 pm: | |
The sparc 10 was a fantastic machine in its day. It remained a favorite of mine even after it became obsolete.
What kind of system is it now? I know it runs Linux.
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Dave
Moderator
Username: Dave
Post Number: 4705
Registered: 4-1998
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 15, 2004 - 9:07 pm: | |
I'm pretty sure it's a HP/Compaq DL360 now |
inkblot
Citizen
Username: Inkblot
Post Number: 4
Registered: 9-2004
| | Posted on Friday, December 17, 2004 - 1:13 pm: | |
If security/privacy is a consideration, and it should be, you should vote for powering it down. The least accessible target is one that's powered off.
A related issue: A powered off machine is also the least liable to being triggered into a zombie state by the originator of previously planted malware (spyware, worm, etc.) and to participate in a denial-of-service attack.
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gtonne
Citizen
Username: Gtonne
Post Number: 44
Registered: 9-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - 3:23 pm: | |
My Aunt and Uncle have a Dell laptop that is a couple of years old. They turn it on and off about 5 or 6 times a day - each time they use it to check email or the weather. It drives me nuts to watch how much time they spend hovering impatiently over their computer waiting for, and then complaining about, the extremely long start-up time. I've suggested on several occasions that they just leave it on as I do my computer. That idea was received about as well as if I suggested that they keep their cars running in the driveway 24/7 just in case they want to go somewhere.
It's a reliable source of amusement for me when I visit them . |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 4825
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - 3:50 pm: | |
And laptops don't use nearly as much power as a desktop, so it's not as bad an idea. Oh well. |
mtierney
Citizen
Username: Mtierney
Post Number: 702
Registered: 3-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - 8:51 pm: | |
I'm in gtonne's aunt and uncle club. I turn my IMac on and off at least twice a day. I've had the computer for 3-1/2 years now and everything seems fine.
I've always worried about power outages which seem to occur regularly. Aren't these more of a threat to a computer?
I turn out the lights when I leave a room too.
 |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 4841
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 22, 2004 - 12:03 am: | |
Yes, power outages are worse. If you're worried about surges, unplug it, too, while it's unused. Surge protectors are good, but the ones that really work are really expensive, and cheap ones might be worse than none.
A laptop, on the other hand, will stay up during short power outages, and the battery is slight protection from surges and dips. |
monster
Citizen
Username: Monster
Post Number: 438
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 22, 2004 - 1:25 am: | |
Of course if you have a surge protector of the APC kind or Belkin, etc., they have a warranty against damage to your electronics.
Different models have different amounts but any of the better ones would pay for your computer, if the damage was caused by their lack of proper protection.
For example:
APC's protection policy and coverage, http://apc.com/support/service/equipment_protection_policy.cfm
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Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 4843
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 22, 2004 - 12:11 pm: | |
That would cover obvious, catastrophic damage, but there is subtle damage that you can't prove and can't even necessarily correlate to power problems. |
Dave
Moderator
Username: Dave
Post Number: 4810
Registered: 4-1998
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 22, 2004 - 12:15 pm: | |
My APC power supply has paid for itself several times over. It not only covers catastrophic power loss, but keeps the electric flow even. |
StringsTeacher99
Supporter
Username: Blue_eyes
Post Number: 267
Registered: 4-2004
| | Posted on Monday, January 3, 2005 - 9:58 pm: | |
mtierney - it's funny you say that - I turn off all the lights in my apartment and even turn down the heat whenever I leave (and I don't even pay utilities!), but my computer always stays on. I think I began leaving my computer on overnight when I started leaving away messages up overnight in college (plugged into a surge protector of course). This habit has been very hard to break - I'm totally with Starletta on the laziness aspect, but it is also a primary form of quick and easy communication with friends and family.
On a side note, I'm glad I came over here and spent the time reading this thread, I don't come to this section often, but Crazy's post in Virtual Cafe sparked my curiousity about the topic picture. I ended up learning a lot. Thanks! |
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