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

[DogEater008 0]

We have thousands of computers at work and they are all on 24/7 .... with no probs.

 

The main thing to watch out for is that the processor fan can get clogged up with dust , it needs to be cleaned out more regularly if the pc is on 24/7.

 

Another thing is screen burn in ... make sure you have a screen saver on.

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i don't see how turnning on screen saver would help ..the monitor still have to project the imagines... i just don't get how that helps.

 

Anyway. i remember reading one of the articles on BBCNEWS.com and it was talking about if it is good to turn on your computer 24/7. They said that, turning on your computer 24/7 is actully good for your computer then turnning off and on. When turnning off and on your computer many times, it will do damage to the hard drives and the motherboard.

 

But i still turn my comptuer off when not using it to save electricity (ehh.. not that rich). I don't really care if my computer break down because it's gettng too old. With the constant changing of our technologies. Averge of changing to a new computer is 4-5 years. It keeps on coming out with newer and faster computers every half a year or so. Soon they will come out Pentium 5 (they already have it in the lab) and everyone will rush to get a new computer for better performance.

[dymondgurl 0]

i don't see how turnning on screen saver would help ..the monitor still have to project the imagines... i just don't get how that helps.

 

Anyway. i remember reading one of the articles on BBCNEWS.com and it was talking about if it is good to turn on your computer 24/7.  They said that, turning on your computer 24/7 is actully good for your computer then turnning off and on. When turnning off and on your computer many times, it will do damage to the hard drives and the motherboard.

 

But i still turn my comptuer off when not using it to save electricity (ehh.. not that rich).  I don't really care if my computer break down because it's gettng too old. With the constant changing of our technologies. Averge of changing to a new computer is 4-5 years. It keeps on coming out with newer and faster computers every half a year or so. Soon they will come out Pentium 5 (they already have it in the lab) and everyone will rush to get a new computer for better performance.

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i've always wondered the same thing about the screensavers. if you leave a screen saver on long enough you can get burn in from that also. oh well.

 

That theory actually makes sense. your hard disks need a couple seconds spin up time. the constant turning off and on can increase the chances of the hard disk being damaged during that process.

 

another thing that i didnt think of is... its really not that great to have your computer on unsupervised because if your cpu fan or mobo fan goes without your knowing and your comptuer is on for all that time you can burn out your cpu.

[Elegost 0]

My computer is always turned off. I have a very high end graphics card, Processor, ect. and this beast literally drains the power... also if you ask me your old beater deserves a break every once and a while right?

[vujsa 0]

Leaving the computer on 24/7 -

 

Actually, computers left on have fewer issues which is why most companies leave their systems on 24/7. There are a few reasons why turning the computer off creates problems.

The cooling fans manage to keep the flow of dust moving out of the system and also in but as long as it doesn't coat everything, it usually is harmless. There are a few exceptions of course. Settling dust can fall into places where the system would otherwise not collect dust. Basically, dust settles, sticks and won't leave.

Condensation forms on warm computer parts without a flow of air when the internal temperature starts to fall. The air usually cools more quickly than the parts.. Probably don't need to explain the problems involved with water and electricity.

Expansion and contraction occurs during the warm and cooling cycles which can cause some components to work their way out of their slots. Usually, this just results in the component needing to be firmly reinserted but it could cause a short or other misflow of electricity through either the component or the motherboard. This could leave you with an unusable component, motherboard or both.

Voltage usually spikes when a power source is first turned on. It takes a microsecond for the power to stablize at the right voltage. In this microsecond, a lot of damage could occur not only to the power supply but to the system as well. This is the same reason that light bulbs burn out when you turn the light on.

The use of power is very high during startup. Most of the disk drives are running to see where the OS is and run a check of the system This sends test data to the memory, hard drives, floppy drives, optical drives, input output devices, among otherthings. This large flow of energy can actually shorten the life of you power supply. Also, the massive activity on your storeage devices can cause mechanical failures in the units.

Power consumption can be managed with your system OS. you can have various components turn off or hybernate when not in use.

 

For security, you can disable your internet connection when no in use to prevent outside corruption of your system when not at home even though most systems get infections and security leaks because of the direct actions of their user. (Downloaded a virus ladden file or installed the latest spamware convieniently dressed as a media player.)

 

Screen savers -

 

Let me try to explain what the burning in process actually does. Have you ever moved a piece of furnature that was on a piece of carpet an noticed that there is an impression in the carpet of the feet of the piece of furnature. This was because the piece of furnature never moved. If it had been moved a centimeter every day, it wouldn't have left an impression. This is the same as some of the items on your computer screen like the start button. It NEVER moves. As a result, the coating on the back side of your monitor screen gets worn unevenly and leaves a shadow of the stationary item. When you turn thr monitor off, you'll see the al of the stationry items on your screen in black and white.

 

Here is another example of how this works with light instead of a physical object.

 

Look at a light for a few seconds without moving your eyes. Now close your eyes and turn away. The light is still there right. This is because you burnt it in before you closed your eyes. It wouldn't have happened if you had been moving your eyes or if the light was moving.

 

The screen saver actually tries to evenly wear the monitor screen. Which basically conceals all wear on the monitor. The screen just gradually gets darker over time but there aren't any shadows (ghoasts) of the statonary items on your screen.

 

LCD screens are much more sensitive to this wear and as a result more apt to be burnt into.

 

Hope this helps.

 

vujsa

[michaelper22 0]

I turn on my trusty new HP once a day and shut it off before I go to sleep. If I walk away for more than 20 minutes, it goes into standby; occasionally (when I am in the middle of something and don't want to have to spend the time restarting it and reopening everything) I hibernate the thing. I don't run a lot of stuff at once (I even close tabs in Netscape if I see a ton of them), and even then, the CPU fan runs faster to compensate for the extra processing power (and thus heat). I don't view leaving a machine on 24/7 as a global standard, rather as a custom for those who wish to. Windows XP Professional does get cranky sometimes, so rebboting is a good thing to do.

[amhso 0]

in my opinion, keeping a computer on all the time is fine. as long as the room it's in doesn't turn into an oven or microwave (like mine, and that's why i don't host servers at home). And someone earlier in this thread said that keeping electronics on and warmed up is better. That's true except for memory, your ram slowly uses up more and more of it as processes continue their work, so eventually, your computer will run down to a slug. restart it atleast once a week or better, every 3-4 days.This about it this way, if servers can be left on 24/7...so can your computer (your computer generates probably less heat than a server does)

[Arigato 0]

There should not be a problem with leaving your computer on for long periods of time. I sometimes have both my computers on for a period of half a month at a time and they work just as good at the end as it did at the beginning. My computers have P4 processors and run on windows xp which is really stable in my experience. When I tried leaving my P3 computer on a few years back with windows 2000 it would freeze overnight. I did take precautions before leaving my computer on for so long, I purchased some stronger fans just so that it would remain at a constant low temperature to prevent anything from overheating.

[sonorama 0]

Lol! I do that sometimes: I leave the PC on for a few days and then someone (or something) suddenly turn it Off... that makes me mad.... hehehe, I pay for the electricity bill and I don't think it uses lots of energy, I guess the monitor (screen) is the one which spends more energy at all, so I always turn it off when i leave the CPU on...Anyways, PCs are way cool-.-..-.--.-..--.

[gotenx 0]

Most of the time I leave mine on for weeks at a time until Microsoft Update restarts it for no reason what so ever. When that happens I get really mad because that means my server was down for awhile and people get mad when that happens.If you don't want your computer to get sluggish, you should install a RAM freeing program like FreeRamXP Pro. It's free, boosts performance like crazy, and has no spyware.Another way to make your computer more stable when you leave it on for extended periods of time is to get rid of your integrated graphics (Intel graphics, s3 Prosavage DDR, Ati x200 express...) and get ANY cheap video card to replace it such as the Nvidia Geforce MX4000. I got mine from eVGA for $20 and my systems performance jumped 200% when I left it on (gaming also got better too).

[Eminem 0]

Um...it doesnt harm your computer in any way as i used to do that many times...it may get hot certain times but that cant be an issue u need to keep it in an open space so that the hot air can be regulated out of the PChowever i strongly prefer one or more restarts during the day ....over all it isnt bad to keep it on 24/7 but its not prefered 2 ..

[Hiaito 0]

If you leave your computer on, eventually it will shut itself down. Basically depending on your setting for "power". You can change these setting by right-clicking whilst view your desktop > and click properties > Screen Saver > and Power. From here you can tune you power limits. (Walkthrough for Windows XP. If i'm not mistaken its not much different from any other version of Windows.)

 

But leaving your computer on 24/7 wouldn't be so wise. I'm mean..its your home computer right? And if so, NO. That would do nothing but kill your computer's battery when it goes into hibernation, or stand by. (It does it automatically when left idle for the time indicated in the "Power" section.) And if the computer's battery dies, you can't go into hibernation at an later date. So be wise and turn your computer off if you know it won't be used for long periods of time.

[Sirius 0]

I'm pretty sure leaving your computer on slows it down after some time because of the slowness of hardware--I think possibly the rpm of the Hard Drive and maybe even the Cpu could be affected.Plus, it get's really warm. But I think that current day computer would turn themselves off if the computer/laptop got too warm inside? I'm just saying that based of what happens if you spill something over your laptop... It just turns itself down to protect you and furtur harm while everything is running--I think...I always turn if off before I goto bed Even if I'm gone for a few hours...So when I start it up again I have a fast computer running (less processes and so forth)

[Plenoptic 0]

I normally have my computer on all the time I am awake. Considering I have a laptop though if I leave it on for too long and it is on like a rug it burns up and kills the motherboard. It happened to my brother. If I go somewhere I normally just fold down the screen to put it in sleep mode. I only have it shut down when I go to school or if I'm sleeping. There is really no point for me to have it on all day. it only takes 2 minutes for it to start up and log on. I'll leave it on if I want to keep something open though, like if I am working on something.

[s243a 0]

I normally have my computer on all the time I am awake.  Considering I have a laptop though if I leave it on for too long and it is on like a rug it burns up and kills the motherboard.  It happened to my brother.  If I go somewhere I normally just fold down the screen to put it in sleep mode.  I only have it shut down when I go to school or if I'm sleeping.  There is really no point for me to have it on all day.  it only takes 2 minutes for it to start up and log on.  I'll leave it on if I want to keep something open though, like if I am working on something.

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I keep a book under my laptop so that it breaths better.

[willywonker 0]

Laptops esspeshally require time to cool down unless on a flat suface were the fan can curculate and a computer is more better to leave on thecause it has mare room and a bigger fan *aswell as some people a water cooling like me you see im i COMPTER ADDICT!!!!!