Leaving Your Computer On? - is this good for it?

[AnGeL KiSS 0]

wow, I leave my computer on ALL the time. I think my computer has been on for a few months now, the only time I "turn off" the computer is when I restart it and that's not really turning it off... each time I get off my computer, I just turn off the monitor. My brother did this before nothing really bad happened to it .. but I just learned/read recently that viruses can come in more easily than having it off.. but my pc isn't slowly dieing, it's acting normal and alot faster than some of my friends computers actually.

[ishwar 0]

Our school computers have been on since 2 years , first since we got them , I don't see any side affects, we even leave them on during 2 month breaks,I asked the computer lab teacher and she said, that if we don't leave them on, their hardrives will get spoilt. I think purchasing new ones will be hardly a percentage of our electricity bills

[soulju 0]

If you have windows XP you can leave your computer on for almost an eternity it seems. Depends alot on your processor speed, ram, and how've you tweaked it. It will definantly kill your pockets though when you get your electric bill. You also shouldn't run defragmenter every day or anything... Only when you need to do it, its not healthy. Kind of like getting a cast put on a limb thats not broken, know what im sayin? Or was that a horrible analogy hehe.

Edited October 8, 2006 by soulju (see edit history)

[Cool_Freaker 0]

I find that not shutting the computer off or restarting it causes CPU intensive programs to run slower. A benchmark ran before and after a period of extended operation showed that the computer was not acting as well as it did before. I turn the computer off each time I use it, or log off to ensure that all programs are exited out.

[maprang 0]

Yeah. It's a topic my mom and I are discussing(actually we're arguing about it)But however I've never left my pc turned on for longer than a day. I sometimes turn it on for 23 and a half hrs and give it a 30 min rest. ;D

[hype 0]

30 minutes wouldnt really help much but maybe you can have your air conditioner on 24/7 or have a good cool down method of your computer would be better... But its still better not to leave it on 24/7 unless you're downloading things that takes days to complete or you're using it as some sort of server that requires 100% uptime...

[tdktank59 0]

Actually, starting up and shutting down your system a lot is much the same as starting and stopping your car engine a lot... the starter burns out faster.
Once warmed up, it's better for the electronics to stay that way.

Anyway, your computer won't die if you leave it on all the time. And if you're worried about it starting fires, you'll find that most systems have a bios setting that allows you to have it shut down if it hits a certain temperature in the case/processor.

Worried about power? Use the power settings. Set it so the moniter turns itself off after half an hour, and the sleep function can put your PC into a low power mode without having the machine shut down.

hes right... all except for the sleep/hibernation modes... those are also bad for your computer becasue what they really do is stop eveything so its just like turning it off but all you have to do is press a button and its back to life... but meh... i just leave it on 24/7 unless im on vacation, or im updating stuff on it lol...

[master_bacarra 0]

i'm using my mom's laptop right now and it has been open for two days straight now. the longest was 6 days, i think. i'm in an airconditioned room so the heating is not a problem. and this is a private establishment so the electricity is paid by the company but of course, i do close this laptop every now and then. it's just that i'm developing an application that requires the laptop to be open (i run a server here and work on a different pc). and now that you've mentioned it, i'd probably shut this down when i sleep tonight (i just remembered this is the only time i'm going to be able to sleep!).

[Clessi 0]

My friend's PC blew up, because of lack of circulation, the computer room door was kept shut all day and he left it on for 5 days straight without giving it a rest. It started a fire, burnt down most of his house, I'm just glad he's safe now.

Computers taking revenge ! XD

Nice idea for a horror movie, lol.

[changeyourmind 0]

i dont leave my computer on when not required.DO you leave the cd player turned on when not listening to music?most of us dont so why to unutilise the resources and give way to hackers to hack your system so for security dont leave your computer on.it may crash your hard drive if power fluctuations happen.utilse it when you require it.

[newbie2020 0]

I used to leave my Thinkpad on 24/7/365 infact i remember for 1 year i never shut it down... at all.... I cannot do the same with my dell laptop... :(Dell are u listening...

[jhsmurray 0]

is leaving your computer on 24/7 good for it?

The simple answer is no.

And it's not terribly bad to leave it switched on for the "7" part of it either.

I have WinXP and I leave my computer on for a week at a time sometimes, without too much trouble. After a couple of weeks though, I begin to see signs of trouble. For example, when mousing over the system tray clock the popup stops showing- a reboot fixes the problem. I can't seem to find the link for this at the moment...

Once I had to open up the case and air-blast the fans to get the dust out of it - the noise was this awful screeching, but that was a quick fix.

I also set my flatscreen to turn off in about 5 minutes of inactivity - from what I understand, this helps increase the lifetime of the backlight.

The upside to leaving the computer it on is that you can have it do it's defrag, scanning, updates etc while you are away.

Ultimately, it's probably best to reboot once a day - but I guess I'm too lazy to do that

[-[Nero]- 0]

I left my old computer on 24/7. I off it once a week. About a year later, i cant get my comp to start working becuz my motherboard failed to function due to some virus atk. Don't on your comp for more than 24 hours, that's my advice.

Edited October 26, 2006 by -[Nero]- (see edit history)

[richierich1m 0]

keeping a computer on has its own pros and cons,if you keep the computer on 24/7 we face problems like1.big electricity bills (espsecially if you have powerful graphic cards that drain thr power a lot otherwise its ok)2.you should have a good cooling system3.a lot of temporary memory is used upif you keep it turning off and on wer have problems like1.the heating and cooling may cause components to expand and contract,thus making them loose2.it may get the chips heat up when you start the pc,this sudden heating may damage the chipsso just do things as per your requirements and measuring the advantages and the disadvantages

[-[Nero]- 0]

leaving your computer on is not really a question of good or bad, it depends on what you leave it on for, and whether you're willing to accept certain things that might happenif your computer has sufficient cooling, then it won't do any harm to your pc to leave it on...however, if there is a thunderstorm, your PC might get fried, if not your PC then something else might. If there is a power failure, you might lose your data if your PC was in the process of doing something. Apart from that, there is the electric bill and monthly internet bill [if you leave your computer connected and you're not on a fixed rate plan].if you do want to leave your computer on, make sure you do have sufficient cooling. water cooling is great but a little pricy. fans and heatsinks are alright as well. some computers give you info regarding it's internal temperature, so if you want to see if your computer has sufficient cooling, try leaving it on for maybe 6-8 hours or longer and check on it. i think the normal temperature of a pc is between 40-60+ degrees centigrade, not too sure though, can someone clarify on that? if you live in an area where it doesn't rain often and power outages rarely occur, you have less to worry about as well.if you're leaving your computer on, i'm sure you have something that you want it to do, maybe a download or you're in a game, thats fine. However if you're leaving your computer on for nothing..i say just turn it off and don't waste your money!