Will Manual Shut Down Hurt Your Pc?

[Spen 0]

Well what I want to know is: Will doing a manual shut down hurt your computer? Manual shut down as in not going to (This is on Windows XP) start menu,turn off your computer, and hit turn off. Some people I have talked to say it hurts your computer when you do a manual shut down.Does doing a manual shut down hurt your computer?

[xJedix 0]

In my experience, it has never physically hurt my computer by manually turning off my computer. The only thing you have to be concerned about is what type of programs are running at the time your shutting it down. If you do a force shutdown via holding the power button down, programs that are running won't save any current data that they have. So lets say your running something that keeps logs and only saves the logs when the program is terminated. When you do a force shutdown, those logs won't be saved.I'm not possitive about information not saving when you press the power button, like if your computer is running fine and you press the button. So correct me if I'm wrong. But I know for sure that when you hold the power button in for the 3-4 seconds, nothing saves.... especially when your computer is frozen.

[jlhaslip 4]

And in addition, the System should want to do a disk check on restart because the machine isn't smart enough to know the switch was hit instead of the disk crashing. I don't know about you guys, but if these machines were any good, they would be able to tell the difference.Reminds me of a problem we used to have on a system at a Compnay I once worked at. They had an H-P 3000 machine. At the time it was pretty darned fancy. I think it had a 16 bit processor. It needed its own "room" to set up because the 400 Meg disk drives were the size of a school desk, only taller. Makes me laugh when I see the technology available today and think back to those times... but I digress... Anyway, they were prone to overheating and the system would shutdown, a bunch of data would have to be re-entered just like xjedix explained, until someone smarter than the average toilet seat (an Systems Engineer) came up with an idea to hook a thermostat to the thing and when it got too hot, the power supply would shut the machine down. Seemed that the machine handled power outage better than a heat shutdown, so the data all got saved on a Power off. Maybe only the last entry would have to be re-done. That's my story for the day.So aside from a disk check on start-up, I don't think the machine would be any worse for wear.

[Albus Dumbledore 0]

i think that shuting it down manually as you call it would be more benefical than hardbooting it, becauseA it gives all the programs a chance to shut down propperlyandB it's not overloading the system with to many commands..but i might if you have allot of things running you know like saying to one person (shut yahoo down! now msn! not ie! now firefox! lol) just another ceazy thought by the one and only me..but i alternate alllot of the times..if im in a hurry to get my computer back on i will hardboot it, wait 10 seconds then turn it back on, it goes faster than waiting for windows to save settingss etc..

[WoLf9015 0]

Well what I want to know is: Will doing a manual shut down hurt your computer? Manual shut down as in not going to (This is on Windows XP) start menu,turn off your computer, and hit turn off. Some people I have talked to say it hurts your computer when you do a manual shut down.

 

Does doing a manual shut down hurt your computer?

223899[/snapback]

it doesnt really hurt your pc but it s not a good habbit to get into beause sometimes files that where running werent shut down right so they might get messed up but its highly unlikly it will mess up your pc but dont use it much

[Razor 0]

Turning Off the Power from the mainspower suply In my expirience...it has corrupted a few of my files in system32 , i would highly reccomend not doin git unless you really have to..but i dont think the 7 second hold down on the power button..the only problem i have encountered in that is that i was running music on WMP ..and i held in the power button..when i started it up it said that windows media player had damaged profiles or somthing like that..but that aint that bad...is it ?I preffer going to Start => Shut Down..Because then you know that your pc is definatly closing down everything.

[102mods 0]

hii've got a slightly different opinion. Consider an airconditioner, when the compresor is on if you switch it off probably you could see a sprak build up in between the switch, well its because the airconditioner was workin in full load and thus drawing high current and that when it stops suddenly sparks are produced. Same is the case with pcs, when you turn off the pc using the power button the pc actually might've been workin in full power and a sudden stop could potentially damage smps/hdd/cd-dvd etc....on the other hand when you turn off your pc from the start menu each and every devices are switched off one by one and finally the main supply is cut off, now that does'nt cause any damage.

[Amezis 0]

I never turn it off manually, I always go to start > turn off, except if the computer stops responding, and I have to turn it off manually.I've also heard that it might hurt the computer / components, but I really don't know anything...

[delivi 0]

I've experienced many problems due to manual shutdown of my system. So i'd say u not to do so because , most of the software and the OS store important and critical data store them in the Physical Memory and store them in the hard disk only during the system shutdown or when the application is properly closed. So if u perform a manual sutdown those data will be lost and when the system is booted or the software is loaded after such a process, it may crash or may not work properly if the required data is not available in the hard disk. So pal it would be better if u avoid doing a manual shutdown and keep it as an option only when the system is struck

[catfish 0]

pulling the plug might cause some problems, but most computers these days are "smart" enough to not screw up just because you used the tower button.Also anything you do wind-up doing will only damage software, (99.9% of cases) so its nothing a format won't fix.

[michaelper22 0]

My three prefered methods of shutting down:1) Start -> Shutdown (or Turn Off Computer)2) Press (do not hold) the power button. Same result as going number 1 above.3) Hold power button (only used when system is not responding).I never pull the plug on my machine. I will always let some type of software (Windows or the BIOS) shutdown my computer.

[amhso 0]

pulling the plug or just shutting it off with the power button is no good. many components on your pc don't get a time to cooldown. an example is the harddrive. it's spinning at 7200+ rpm. if you just pull the plug, it may just keep going. kind of like a car. if you just kill a car at 100 mph...it'll keep on rolling. take the time to shut it down properly.

[hitmanpimp31 0]

it will never hurt youre pc

[Inspiron 0]

pulling the plug or just shutting it off with the power button is no good. many components on your pc don't get a time to cooldown. an example is the harddrive. it's spinning at 7200+ rpm. if you just pull the plug, it may just keep going. kind of like a car. if you just kill a car at 100 mph...it'll keep on rolling. take the time to shut it down properly.

224450[/snapback]

Nope, even if you do a proper shudown in Windows, everything will just turn off as usual, similar to pulling off a power plug while the computer is still on.

 

Basically the shutdown button in Windows OS is just a proper way to ensure all your data is saved on the harddisk before turning the computer off. It's nothing related to damaging the hardware components, unless you try to overheat them.

 

For example, you are working on a report on Microsoft Words. This document is not saved yet, so all the text you've entered in MS Words are stored temporary in your RAM, or swapfile. Pulling off the power plug while you are still working on your report will cause all your data to be lost. Whereas the shutdown button verifies and ensure that you intend to shutdown your computer without saving your document. The shutdown button also saves all your profiles settings and configurations, so the next time you logs on to your computer, your desktop background will remain the same as what you've configured, say for example. Pulling off the power plug will destroy all your settings which you've just configured and the next time your log on, the settings will revert back to the previous one where a proper shutdown was done.

 

To summarise, holding down the power button or pulling off the power plug will not damage your computer hardware components. You will only lose your data if they are not saved. Using the proper shutdown method from Windows will be the same as cutting off the power supply, suddenly, but ensured that your data is all saved. Its basically for your data, to save or to lose. Hardware components are not affected.

[amhso 0]

maybe it's just my personal experience of having a power supply just pop when you pull the plug.