Comments for Should I turn my computer off at night?

Comment from John H on 2011-12-14

2011-12-14T16:36:24Z

Your article was very helpful but my problem is that My Dell Dimension E510 has just developed early stages of the dreaded flashing amber light on startup which effects powering up. At the moment I get away with massaging the start button for about 5mins but for how long!
It starts up OK from standby so my dilema is will I be causing less stress by leaving permanently on standby or risk complete failure by stwithing off every night if and when my existing fault develops further?
John H

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Comment from Michael on 2011-11-11

2011-11-11T13:39:32Z

As Leo says, it depends. It depends on a myriad of things.....things as basic/minuscule as "what is my time worth", assuming you have to, perhaps, walk to another floor of the house to turn off your server......or, "how many people in the family use the network...and at what times of day". It definitely can't be a one-size-fits-all answer.

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Comment from kimie on 2011-10-15

2011-10-16T06:03:42Z

powering down the computer stress critical components such as the CPU and memory.. so does this practice is more waste?
-thank you-

That's actually discussed in the article you just commented on.

16-Oct-2011

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Comment from Vadim on 2010-08-22

2010-08-22T12:21:22Z

Most of the updates require your system to restart after instolation and as you have mentioned earlier they are could be as frequent as few per day. So the wear and tear factor is unavoidable in that perspective however I belive restarting is beneficial for the system anyway am I confused or it is?

It varies a great deal on how you use your computer. I have my main machines reboot overnight. There's really no additional wear and tear to doing so.

23-Aug-2010

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Comment from jaap on 2010-06-06

2010-06-06T16:40:35Z

An important factor is the price of electricity in your location. In the Netherlands we pay an additional environment tax of about 250% and then 19% sales tax on top of that. Together with meter rent and electricity transport costs that brings the total to about 25 Euro-cents per kWh.

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A comment on: Should I turn my computer off at night?

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Comment from Ken on 2009-10-24

2009-10-25T06:00:00Z

Surely you should turn off your modem when not in use to prevent high tech hackers from getting in the back door. Our local police claim they can access info about you while you are turned on.
A Microsoft engineer friend of mine had a message left on his screen while he was absent telling him that he needs to purchase better protection. Would be interested in you comments, Leo. Thanks

My computers are on 24x7. The more important thing is to have a good firewall, which will prevent exactly the type of access you describe. It can be a simple as a NAT router.

25-Oct-2009

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Comment from jon on 2009-02-21

2009-02-22T00:19:57Z

what should i do?i was using a friend's computer when all of a suddenly it went off without any warning.i was able to reboot the computer but everything on the desktop as become faint which makes difficult reading or seeing on the desktop.what can i do.really need help.

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A comment on: Should I turn my computer off at night?

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Comment from jon on 2009-02-21

2009-02-22T00:11:11Z

please can you tell me how to turn off power safe mode on my computer.i try boothing my computer and all i see is a black screen telling me my power safe mode is on.

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Comment from michael on 2009-02-05

2009-02-05T16:42:50Z

Hi Leo,
When I return to work in the mornings, my computer does not boot up unless I manually turn it off, then turn it back on. I don't shut down my computer when I leave in the evenings. Normally, it hibernates, and I come in and press the space bar, and its back up. Now however, the blue light is on, and when I press the space bar, I can hear the computer "roar".. but nothing comes up on my monitor unless I turn it off, and then turn it back on.... What should I do??

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Comment from Carmel on 2008-10-15

2008-10-15T21:11:20Z

Hi Elaine Gonzales,

You might want to check your power settings to ensure that it is not set to go into stanby mode ever so many minutes.

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Comment from Elaine Gonzales on 2008-08-12

2008-08-12T20:35:54Z

My Gateway computer is 7 years old, it has windows XP , lately it has started to put itself in standby when I am using it and I can't bring it out. I have to turn off all power and wait a long time before it will come up again then, it closes itself down again.

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A comment on: Should I turn my computer off at night?

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Comment from Jeff on 2008-06-04

2008-06-05T00:18:04Z

i am definitely more educated on this matter now that i have read your answer to this question. Thanks for the info Leo

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Comment from Leo A. Notenboom on 2008-03-09

2008-03-10T04:16:17Z

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It's not neccessarily bad to turn off the computer. (Read
the article you just commented on.)

You shouldn't have to reset the clock every day. You
probably have a dead CMOS battery. That can be replaced.

Leo

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A comment on: Should I turn my computer off at night?

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Comment from Robert on 2008-03-07

2008-03-07T14:37:17Z

why is it bad to turn off the computer and why do you have to reset the date each day

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Comment from Diana on 2007-11-09

2007-11-10T02:53:38Z

If I leave my computer on for long periods of time, it seems to "load up" on me. Everything slows down, things sometimes quit working. I have a Dell E521 with Vista on it (bought new this past summer). In fact I use yahoo messenger and it freezes up on me all the time. It gets better when I shut the machine off and restart it. But I always shut mine off at night, as I've already had 3 fans burn out on my old computers.

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A comment on: Should I turn my computer off at night?

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Comment from Nelson on 2007-03-24

2007-03-24T20:14:30Z

I've been leaving my machines on 24/7 for years. This is due largely to my own impatience and a degree of laziness rather than for any technical reason: I hate to wait for it to boot up! That said, I've never experienced a problem related to or as a result of leaving them on. So, as Leo the wise has indicated, it is largely a matter of personal preference. I would recommend keeping the machine clean (clear cache, etc.) and an occasional reboot. My machines seem happier when I do this than not.

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A comment on: Should I turn my computer off at night?

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Comment from deyaa fahmy on 2007-03-23

2007-03-24T05:17:29Z

My computer is always On since 3 years at least, except about 15 days per years my holiday.
thanks.

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Comment from Leo Notenboom on 2007-03-23

2007-03-24T03:08:38Z

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Nope, with your machine in standby your network connection is inactive.

Leo
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Comment from Chris on 2007-03-23

2007-03-24T02:52:07Z

You never mentioned anything about how not rebooting the machine properly at least once every few days, software related problems start occurring such as 'junk' building up and the OS being more likely to corrupt itself.

As for a further question, can I computer become infected by being connected to the internet during standby?

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A comment on: Should I turn my computer off at night?

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Comment from Ken on 2007-03-20

2007-03-20T19:54:26Z

There's also "hibernate mode". This saves the state of the computer (as does "standby"), but it saves it to the hard drive, and actually does power off. Powering on then restores the state from the hard drive, rather than doing a "full" boot.

Of course, the answer to "which way to go" is "it depends". I happen to leave my desktop on most nights, but I do power down to hibernate other nights. (No particular pattern as to which one.)

My laptop, however, I almost always hibernate overnight. (Or longer sometimes.)

However, I have numerous programs running, and windows just where I like them, so I like the fact that they're where I left them with hibernate.

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A comment on: Should I turn my computer off at night?

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