How often do you shut down your computer?

[nissmo300]

How often do you shut down your computer?

[iooi]

Depends on just what you mean by shut down ?
Yes mines gets rebooted (dont really call that a shut down) usualy every week but often not for a couple of weeks...Aint XP great compared to other windows versions..
A full shut down will only ever happen if i go away for a few days....If i'm having a rest i'm sure my puter deserves one too

[Cobra]

One of the computers at home is never turned off, the other two are in bedrooms so must be turned off at night.

I put mine on standby most nights when I'm encoding - it's that suspend-to-RAM option I have that means the PC is as good as shut down (power light flashes and that's it) but the next morning I hit power and ten seconds later it's encoding again! It doesn't seem to disturb encoding at all, which is really cool.

Cobra

[nissmo300]

Is it true the if you turn off and on your comp often that it shortens the life of the hardware?

[Cobra]

I was told that PCs live longer when all the parts are on and heated up, as opposed to on/off, hot/cold fluctuations several times a day. I've got no idea whether that's true or not. I suppose it could be true but in reality I don't think it would make that much difference.

Cobra

[galactica]

Its been 1 year and 8 months since ive turned mine off for longer than a restart.

I agree on other comments, you need to edit your wording

to me a shut down is like turn it off and walk away!

To say "shut down" when software requires it is inaccurate, which software requires a shut down. Most a restart/reboot.

Shut downs - never
Restarts - when an app needs it

[Piccoro]

Yeah, if you have it on all the time or off all the time it lasts forever.
Well, at least longer than if you turn on/shut down a lot as the parts expand/contract.

Just look at cement when it goes through summer / fall / winter / spring (heat, rain, freeze cycle). Cracks and pot holes everywhere except the silicon that makes up your PC doesn't get repaired.

I turn on my PC when I wake up and turn it off when I go to bed at night.
I will leave it on from time to time when encoding or for other reasons.
My other PC stays on most of the time or off.

[piano632]

I turned my old computer on/off 4 times a day for 3 years and it still works. Do the same with my new one. Why leave it on and pay for more electricity?

[sterno]

My main general-use computer usually only gets a reboot when the power goes out. The power here is pretty crappy so I probably only average 1 month or so, but I've gone 3-4 months between reboots a number of times in the past.

[808smokey]

Computers are meant to be shutdown that's what the ATX PS is for. What if there's a lightning storm? You just leave it plugged in and hope that $8 surge protector won't melt and kill your computer when you get hit?? Sorry but I turn mine off at night and on in the afternoon when I get home from work been doing this for years and no problems at all. I'll agree that older PC's (AT PS) were meant to turn on and and stay on but not anymore. Do as you please and nothing will break. Besides how can you prove that Power on and off broke something?? Unless you have some lab setup and even if you have identical parts you can't prove anything.

[northcat_8]

Is it true the if you turn off and on your comp often that it shortens the life of the hardware?

I wouldn't know. My PC has not been shut down for over 3 years, except for the short period of time when I install new hardware or software.

Lightning storms? Shutting down the PC won't do anything. In order to effectively protect your PC from a lightning storm you would need to unhook any cable connect to an outside line. Phone line or Modem Cable, every cable that is plugged in to the wall (PSU and Monitor). Shutting it off only tells the motherboard to not except the power, the power is still there just waiting on that decision to be made.

[solarfox]

That depends on whether you simply shut it off using the "soft" power buttons, or whether you have your whole system hooked up to a master power strip with an on/off switch that physically breaks the connections.

Since I see no need for the half-a-dozen wall-transformer-powered devices I have hooked up to the system (USB hub, external USB HD case, printer, speakers, etc.) to continue drawing power when the PC itself is shut down, I go for the latter approach.

And believe me, anyone who's lived in central Florida for any length of time quickly develops the habit of going around and physically disconnecting anything expensive during thunderstorms.

(Oh, and BTW -- that's "accept", not "except".)

[Capmaster]

After every use. Otherwise you risk resource drain and memory leaks ...especially with Windows. Nothing like a fresh boot-up for running clean and fast.

My work PC stays on all day after the morning power-up, but it's too fast anyways to ever notice a slight slowdown.

[shelbyGT]

typically about 2 times a day, and at night. Sometimes all day it's on and only turn off at night.

[iooi]

I was told that PCs live longer when all the parts are on and heated up, as opposed to on/off, hot/cold fluctuations several times a day. I've got no idea whether that's true or not. I suppose it could be true but in reality I don't think it would make that much difference.

Cobra

Did used to be true when they were first mas-manufactured and the soldering of joints was not too good, but now with modern manufacturing methods the problem isnt really a problem anymere.

[Hardcoreruss]

Mine is always on probably reset once to twice a fortnight.

[Capmaster]

Is it true the if you turn off and on your comp often that it shortens the life of the hardware?

Echoing what iooi said, no it isn't an issue anymore. It used to be very true in the days of vacuum tubes because of the high operating temps. In a solid state device it makes little difference .......you'll trade up long before your PC ever wears out

When I get to the office the first thing I do is power up the PC. I put in the boot password and let it crunch while I'm taking a leak and getting the water for coffee (no, they're not the same stuff ). Then I get back and put in the Windows networking password and go run my lunch down to the fridge. When I get back it's waiting for me. So the argument that it "takes too long" doesn't work.

I've asked people at work why they leave their PCs on all night. Some of us have genuine simulations that take all night, but most don't. The answer usually is "it'll make the PC last longer, because of heat", so apparently many people believe this. I ask them "why don't you leave your car idling in the driveway while you're in the house" or "why don't you leave your TV on all the time then?" They answer "I really don't know ...I never thought about it".

[galactica]

Mine is always on probably reset once to twice a fortnight.

how long is a fortnight again?
2 weeks? im drawing a blank

[Hardcoreruss]

Yep 2 weeks

[Hardcoreruss]

So I suppose once a week

[rallynavvie]

At work they run all the time since there are intrusive visits from our tech people at all hours going at them remotely. They do have WOL but I figure why bother making them wait for it to wake up? We run Win2k Pro and OS 9 at work so I do have to reboot them ever so often to fix a problem.

At home I shutdown my PC after every use. Only the internet machine stays on all the time. My workstation(s) don't stay on since two 550w power supplies and the systems they run cost me a bit in electricity. The other reason is my workstation(s) are in the same room as my home theater so I don't like the extra noise when watching movies. I do tend to leave them on all day on weekends just because I go back to them over the course of the day. WinXP boots pretty quick.

As for damage from turning off and on there's no solid evidence either way, so just do what you will. The only difference I can think of is high-rpm SCSI drives don't like being turned off and on all the time. I believe they're still meant to be running constantly [shakes finger at capmaster]

[indolikaa]

My computers run 24/7.

[Capmaster]

The only difference I can think of is high-rpm SCSI drives don't like being turned off and on all the time. I believe they're still meant to be running constantly [shakes finger at capmaster]

You're right rally. My bad. But I have my data files constantly backed up to mirror-RAID network storage that's on a daily tape backup schedule, in addition to my own CD-RW backups less frequently. If my drive goes tits-up it'll give me an excuse to do a fresh install of XP Pro and buy a bigger faster 15K SCSI HD Did I mention this is my work PC?

[rallynavvie]

Bah, I'm guilty of it too. Nice thing about good SCSI drives is they're warrantied for years. I just had one die on me last month and got a new one back from Seagate a week after they got it. Both mine are warrantied out to 2007. As for data on them I only use mine as scratch space

[Craig Tucker]

My computers run 24/7.

Same here.

[Guest]

The people who havnt shut down in months/years must be running a non-windows platform.

[Piccoro]

After every use. Otherwise you risk resource drain and memory leaks ...especially with Windows. Nothing like a fresh boot-up for running clean and fast.

My work PC stays on all day after the morning power-up, but it's too fast anyways to ever notice a slight slowdown.

Do you by chance run Windows 95/98/ME? Rather than Windows XP/2000?

Since WinXP/2k most ppl never have to restart a PC to restore the resources (Memory leaks). Only important setting changes/program install will need a restart now adays.

I perfer an UPC vs a surge protector only.
A surge protector only protects so much for it's given rating. After that it lets it all through and your stuff is toast (Lighting anyone?).

[Capmaster]

After every use. Otherwise you risk resource drain and memory leaks ...especially with Windows. Nothing like a fresh boot-up for running clean and fast.

My work PC stays on all day after the morning power-up, but it's too fast anyways to ever notice a slight slowdown.

Do you by chance run Windows 95/98/ME? Rather than Windows XP/2000?

Since WinXP/2k most ppl never have to restart a PC to restore the resources (Memory leaks). Only important setting changes/program install will need a restart now adays.

I perfer an UPC vs a surge protector only.
A surge protector only protects so much for it's given rating. After that it lets it all through and your stuff is toast (Lighting anyone?).

No. XP Pro SP1 at work and Win2K at home. It always runs faster for me after a fresh boot.

[mike1061]

I reboot 3 or 4 times a week, to give the system a restore point. This saved me 2x when I got some spyware that hijacked my computer. Also on ono of my computers I seem to have some problem with the memory. When I reboot it purges the memory. Both are XP OS's
Thanks Mike.

[Conquest10]

The people who havnt shut down in months/years must be running a non-windows platform.

XP Pro right here and I run it 24/7 no problems.