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I am sorry if this is a really stupid question, and I am sorry if im in the wrong forum. I have been told by many people that you should leave your computer on 24/7, i am wondering if this is really what you should do... A few months ago when i took the computer to be cleaned of some viruses the technician there told me not to leave on 24/7 since i have a dsl connection. I also hear from people that leaving your computer on 24/7 i better for the hard drive and for saving energy which doesnt make sense to me. So fo once and for all i would like to know what is best.. thank you and im sorry if this is the wrong spot!
I'm afraid you're not going to get a straight answer to that question as those who leave the computer running and those who switch off are about equally numbered and each is convinced that their way is right.
The rationale for leaving the machine running is that many electronic components are like electric light bulbs in that they die mostly from thermal shock with the sudden change of temperature on switching off or on.
The other school believe that equipment has a runtime life and the more it runs the sooner it will die. So the choice is yours.
Cheers StewartBit of a wit....half to be precise.
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That is a great question for debate.
If it is on all the time, and you have a power loss, then that would be an inapproprate shutdown and may damage some files.
If you must leave it on, why not make you computer productive by running the SETI@Home screensaver program. That would help the scientific community.
SETI@Home screensaver is a program that receives data, analyses it, then send results back to SETI scientists, then gets more data, all via the Internet.
It takes about 7 hours to do one work unit, using a 1.5 Ghz processor. My last computer took 49 hours.
Current statistics are: 4.8 million computers in over 200 countries working on project.
1.76 million years worth of work has been completed. Meaning it would take one computer that long to do all that work.
My computer so far has done 987 work units in 18,797 hours, since SETI@home project started.http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
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"leaving your computer on 24/7 i better for the hard drive and for saving energy which doesnt make sense"
You're right. It doesn't make sense that you will save energy.
The tech was suggesting that leaving the system on and connected to the internet 24/7 increases your chances of a hacker getting in.
It's kind of a personal choice thing IMHO. I turn mine off every day. But if you have your system set up to go into Standby, it's almost the same as turning it off.
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I have my current machine for 6 years and I turn it off every night. When I'm not using it for awhile, I'll put it on Standby. By leaving it on 24/7 you do increase the risk of hackers invading your machine, but if you're behind a good firewall, it greatly reduces the chances of that happening. Like the above posts say, it's a matter of personal choice.
When all is said and done
More is said than done..
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use a good firewall and then you can forget the DSL part of the question. The firewall will protect you. A firewall is a great idea anyway.
I go to standby or turn the computer off if I won't use it for 8 hours or so. Leaving the computer on all the time does use some electricity & costs $$$ to just sit there waiting for you to come back. Turning it off & on every hour or so probably does reduce lifespan, but who knows how much.
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use a good firewall and then you can forget the DSL part of the question. The firewall will protect you.
You can also block traffic through the firewall, or disable your LAN altogether to further your protection.
i_XpUser
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Turn it off. Every night.
You decrease the hacker thing.
Even IF you have a UPS, it decreases the chances of a power line surge, lightning strike, or other wonderful event from killing your machine.
It decreases the wear and tear on your hard drive and fans--the only moving parts in your machine.
I think the above--just my opinion--offsets the remote possibility that the machine will be damaged by turning it on or off.
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Of course if you do want to leave the computer on, you can turn off the modem.
When all else fails beat the $%!* out of it!!!
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most people leave it on because
they want their task manager to manage certain virus protection, defrag or whatever they want to run on off peak hrs.
maby a way of backing up their system at night on a incremental basis automaticly.Myself i don't do these things
so i turn it off at night
when i need to do these things i just set it up and run it for 1 night.
then set it back
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What a load of C--P.
Some of the posts above are correct.
The only thing you need to leave powerd up is your adsl modem.
It is designed for a 24/7 power up condition.
The rest is not, wel not our home rigs any way.
About the only thing that advice will do for you is wear out your components a lot sooner, than normal.
If you using the rig frequently during the day yes leave the thing on by all means, but if you have any more than a 2 hour period of no usage( my suggestion ) shut it down.
If you leave the thing running the HDD will spin all the time 24/7 unless you use the power saver and shut the drive down after 20 or 30 minutes. And than if you want to use the comp again the press of the keys needs to wake up the drive again any way.
Hope thats some help to you.
IF IT AINT BROKE, DONT FIX IT - SIGNATURE COURTESY OF BUZZ187
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there are simple questions but rarely simple answers.
get a firewall & do anything you want regarding power. the computer components will last for years whether they run all the time or you turn them off overnight.
If anybody has facts please post the site.
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Of course the choice is yours as to what you think is best for you.
Having said that I will add my 1.5 cents worth. (inflation you know)
It is true that the thermal surge as well as the power surge at power up is a life shortner. Do that over and over to a light bulb and it blows. Best just to have a dimmer and let it stay warm. It lasts a long time. Same for your computer. Let it go to standby or hibernate. Power requirements drop dramaticly. Drives spin down and the monitor goes to sleep. It's just waiting for the command to wake up. That's if you want to leave it turned on all the time. Power off your dsl modem to block anything from trying to get in. If you choose to go this route, and you forget to turn off the modem you can be open to an attack. Go to the bios and turn off the following items>
1>Wake on LAN
2>Wake on modem ring. Even though you have a dsl modem I would turn it off any way.
Now a good UPS would be a good thing to have in this configuration. This part will address what if the power goes off statement.
A good UPS teamed up with xp's built in UPS software will do a soft shutdown if the power drops out. You have to get a UPS that speaks to the USB or serial port for that to work. 40 bucks, cheap insurance. APC> UPS350E
Also in the bios you can instruct the system to go to a certain state when the power comes back on. I tell mine to wait for a power button command to power back up. Some times the power goes on and off several times before it becomes stable. That can hurt your system.
Now if you choose to turn it off, that's up to you. I have left mine running almost nonstop for 1 and 1/2 years. I have had a modem get blown up in a bad storm when I was not home. Other than that the only problems I have is me at the keyboard. LOL!
Give it some thought and you decide what's best for you...
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wow, i had no idea i would get soo many responses LMAO! Thank you everyone for your input, i actually feel much better now doing whatever i want rather than worrying if its ok for the computer lol.......i leave the computer on all day long and then i turn it off at night~before i had my virus problems i left it on all the time and when it had to be restarted it took forever before you could use the computer so i will just stick with what im doing lol...thank you all soo much for giving me your input its much appreciated!!!!
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Hi Jenny,
The reason you got so many responses could be due to the fact that your name identified you as a girl. I would turn your computer off when you are not using it because in my mind if it's not in then it's not using power. Also this way you are not open to Hackers.... also if you don't already have a firewall and an up to date anti-virus programme then you should.. in my mind. Take Care Buddy.
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The reason you got so many responses could be due to the fact that your name identified you as a girl.
This thread's now more interesting (jk)
i_XpUser
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