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

[T100 0]

Yes, I leave my computer on for 24/7. The reason behind is simple, it is my gateway to the internet. I leave it on, just as I did with my old router. Computers are designed to be used 24/7, so there isn't really any problems with that. You must have good ventilation inside the box and a sound transformer though. Get a transformer of the higher grade and your computer will be sound then. You are adviced to reboot it, as someone has mentioned, regularly however, to prevent worms attack and etc. Electricity is cheap, don't worry about that. Plus, if you download all the time, leaving the box on overight save you a lot of worries.

[pbrugge 0]

How about servers that run 24/7? It trully doesn matter aslong you have the ability to kill some memory eating processes ones a while like some windows programs are (oke also some *nix programms) But trully leaving your pc 24/7 does not harmit at all

[illdevilinc 0]

My laptop is on all the time and its usually doing something like downloading or scanning for viruses. Its never had any hardware problems and it is a year old and in a good working condition. If you leave your computer on all the time just be sure to clean the vents and fans often and your computer will owrk fine. Also if you own a notebook computer most notebooks have a heat detection on there prosessor which will turn off the computer automaticly before the heat does any damage to your computer. Just be sure to save all your data before leaving it alone or you may lose it when it turnes off. Also you can just put an automatic shutdown timer on the computer and it will shut off without u even knowing it. And even better you can put a auto turn on setting and when you wake up your computer is still on. You wont even know that is was off and it will keep your computer running optimaly. So if your having hardware problems you should just put on the auto settings and let your computer take care of its self. But you still should keep the room its in ventalated or you may have some fire hazereds. But i dont think it creates any problems to leave your computer running on for long periods of times. but 24/7 may be pushing it. at least cut it down to 14/7 or at maximum 20/7. But its your choice and these were just suggestions to keep your computer working full quallity and not burn your prossesor off your computer.

[PunkGuitar 0]

I turn my pc off at night. If you leave it on it wastes electricity and money, and its also really loud

[Kioku 0]

Personally, I don't notice much of a different either way. I'd always leave my computer on without a single worry and still do. If you have a really slow computer, I'd imagine straining it that much would push it over the edge and probably make it burn out.

[PDG 0]

I think it is very harmfull for the computer to leave it on for a long time. this would affect it's electronical board. even if there would be a good power supply and fans it is less dangerous.

[BOAW 0]

i dont see how leaving ur computer on 24/7 can b good...its not lke your computer is going to b better...although ur just wastin electricity unless u tryin to do sumthing while ur computer is on...but if not..u might as well set it on standby so u have the computers energy so incase it doesnt heat up

[Crystality 0]

I leave my computer on 24/7 -- only turned it off a couple times in the past few years, mostly for protection against power outages. Actually, I've heard from some computer-savvy accquaintances of mine that leaving your computer on is actually better for it than turning it on and off every day, and will help it last longer, as long as the fans and such are in good working order.

[sm00nie 0]

I also leave mine on 24/7. I have rebooted a few times after intstalling programs, but other than that it's pretty much idle (or virus/defragging) when I'm offline. The electric/gas bill can get pretty high I imagine, but I live in a high rise and the bill is already taken care of (included in rent).I have a second pc, which is about 3 years old and is still running strong. I have kept that online 24/7 aswell (linux box for other applications and a local test webserver) with no problems.However, I do turn my comps off when there are power shortage warnings (like last summer) and try to conserve every last kilowatt I can.

[Kioku 0]

i've asked around and it's not exactlyu recoomended, since it can cause the conmputer to overheat or a laptop's battery calobration to go off, my one friend said. I don't know, though. As I said in an earlier post, I leave my PC on all night and day and it works perfectly fine. Excellent, even.

[Unregistered 015 0]

If you set up your computer well then leaving it on might not harm you BUTyou probably wont set it up well :huh:I've tried a lot of combinations and came to conclusion that (which is logical by the way) hard disk lasts a lot less, if running all the time. They wear out and become useless. There is always option (in most popular OS'es at least) that enables you to turn of hard disk after some period of inactivity, but it does not help much. Turning comp on and off all the time is not good niether. A lot of read/write takes place during these processes...

[tuyetmy 0]

Does leaving your computer really kill your energy bills?? I seriously never knew that, I always thought it uses more energry when you turn it on, so is that true? And my mom has always been complaining about the bill was always increasing... and I thought the energy company was being stupid.

[tt3 0]

I don't leave my comptuer on 24/7, as it will wear out the hardrive and run the electricity bills. Also, my computers starts acting funny if it has been left on for more than 96 hours!

[Yin-Yang 0]

I don't think it is... my computer has lasted like 4x as long as my friends and he leaves his on all the time.

[tdktank59 0]

I personally always leave my computer on 24/7 and I have a good job *cough* so I dont worry about electric. ( I have no TV BTW im an out door person )
I know it kills electric bills and that it heats up the computer alot. So, if you are willing to do it, before you sleep reset pc and when you wake up, turn it off for 20 min while showering to give your pc a rest. ( leave window open, or a fan on near the CPU )

You can reduce the risk of worms and viruses by leaving on anti spyware, firewall and a virus scanner and let the programs do a scan between 2am and 4am while you are asleep.. well, depends on WHEN you sleep, lol!

lol i do the same i watch tv eveyonce in a while and its normaly a movie or playin xbox or somtin...

but otherwise yeah my comps on 24/7 unless im doing matinece (upgrades...) or rebooting due to lag and what not

but i have a p4 2.8 ghz
1 gig ram
120 gig hd (3x 40 gig)

pretty much ive got a good sytem i just added an extra fan cuase i had one to the front its all workin fine never had heat problems have a direct channel for the air off the cpu so its all good lol


as far as viruses and stuff meh ive got norton on 24/7 along with the computer and it scans eveymorinin at 2am while i sleep i never get any viruses or trojans unless i mistakely dl them but even then norton find it instantly and quarintines it so i dont have to worry...
Edited March 2, 2006 by tdktank59 (see edit history)