[gui-talk] leaving computer turned on

Fri May 13 23:25:38 UTC 2011

Wow what a great lesson.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Jacobson" <steve.jacobson at visi.com>
To: "NFB in Computer Science List" <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>; "Discussion of the 
Graphical User Interface, GUI Talk Mailing List" <gui-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, May 13, 2011 10:20 AM
Subject: Re: [gui-talk] leaving computer turned on


> When this debate first started, probably twenty-five years ago, most of us 
> used computers differently.  We probably used computers several times a 
> day if we
> were active users, but e-mail and internet access all involved dial-up so 
> we didn't stay connected all the time and perhaps checked mail once a day. 
> The
> debate originally was should we leave our computers on all day or should 
> we shut them down each time we used them.  In that context, I think there 
> was
> truly some wear saved by us leaving them on all day.  I am not convinced 
> any more that wear is really the reason to make your choice.  Leaving a 
> computer
> on overnight so that it runs eight hours without use rather than 
> restarting it seems unlikely to save greatly on wear, especially 
> considering that it will likely be
> busy some of that time with operating system tasks.  Also, remember that 
> even if you leave it on, if it goes into standby or hibernate mode, some 
> of the same
> issues you have with a drive starting up will still be there when it wakes 
> up.  I am also not sure that I think the argument of avoiding bootup 
> problems is valid.
> If you have a bootup problem, you either have a drive problem, a registry 
> problem, or possible a corrupt file problem that you are probably better 
> off knowing
> about rather than not.
>
> In general, I tend to turn my computers off at night for some of the 
> reasons already given.  Some programs get messier the longer they run, and 
> it gives
> Windows Update a chance to do its thing as well.  In the case of my work 
> computer, though, I leave work at 5:00 and return a little before 8:00 the 
> next
> day, so turning it off means it rests more than it is on.  I usually turn 
> my computer at home off around 10:30 in the evening and I usually do not 
> use it until the
> next night, so the same thing holds there.  Nowadays, it takes some time 
> to have a computer start up.  Besides the actually bootup process, there 
> are things
> that run when the computer has just started that can make it work slower. 
> Windows Update runs, your virus checker probably does some scans, it make
> check for virus updates, if you use DropBox or similar software it will 
> synchronize, which means that after you boot up your computer doesn't 
> settle down for
> a few minutes.  Therefore, if you are the sort of person who uses the same 
> computer often and over extended periods, having it on and ready to go may
> make good sense, but more for the convenience rather than for saving wear. 
> Also, if you use it all day and evening, you can have it perform some 
> tasks
> while you are sleeping such as virus scans and software updates.  However, 
> I still think it is a good idea to get a fresh start by restarting a 
> computer
> occasionally.  Some software updates require a restart for one thing.  In 
> some cases, Windows will now restart your computer automatically after 
> giving you
> a warning, so it could restart some without your intervention.  How often 
> you restart it really depends upon what you notice,  If you routinely use 
> your
> computer for three days without noticing any problem, then there is 
> probably no need to restart once a day, but I don't think once a day is a 
> bad idea.  It
> depends a lot on your pattern of use, what you are running how old your 
> machine is, and probably other variables I haven't thought of.
>
> Good luck.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Steve Jacobson
>
> On Thu, 12 May 2011 21:44:02 -0700, Humberto wrote:
>
>>Hello folks,
>
>>To all the geeks out there who really know the ins and outs of
>>the PC, is it OK if I leave my PC turned on all day and night?
>>Will my computer suffer or wear out by leaving it on all day?
>>Will it get slow? I read on my city's networking web site that if
>>I leave my computer on all the time, I would avoid startup and
>>bootloading errors when shutting off and turning on. Is this
>>true?
>>thoughts welcome everyone.
>
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>
>
>
>
>
>
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