BleepingComputer.com: what consitutes "long"

i was reading an article passed along to me by a tech and in the one i have a question about it said not to turn off your pc unless it will be for long periods of time. my question is what consitutes a "long period of time"?hours, days?...thanks in advance

This is a debate that will go on forever, argued both ways.

My philosopy is if you arent using it turn it off, especially overnight.
The system does need to be rebooted every once in a while.

Of course, I am old school. Mom always used to chide us "when you leave the room turn off the lights" and that kind of stuff.

lol...okay, thanks...i too am a "turn off the lights" type :]

My computer at home gets shut down every night when I go to bed. My computer at work gets left on 24/7 (scheduled reboot and malware scan every Sunday evening.)

Neither one shows ill effects from either treatment.

You can always go for the middle ground of suspend/hibernate.

lol..mine is the opposite...work gets turned off every day and home gets left on...thanks for the input :]

Keep in mind that any electrical appliance can fail after a power off/power on sequence. I keep my systems powered ON 24/7 and do an occasional (warm) reboot if required after a system update.

HTH

There is no right or wrong. I know many very knowledgeable systems folks who leave their system on 24/7 and others who shut down every night (personally, I do the latter).

The two schools of thought are: every time you turn on the system you expose the electronic components to the "shock" of startup. The other side says leaving the system on all the time causes the hd and potentially other components to wear out more quickly. Truth be told, there's a LITTLE truth to both theories - but not enough to make a difference. Do whatever makes you happy and in the end, that's the right thing to do.

This post has been edited by Allan: 06 July 2011 - 05:35 PM

I turn mine off every night. My theory on it is this-If there is power running through the circuits, its causing wear and tear, which shortens the length of its life-you wouldnt leave your car running 24/7 would you, why would you leave your computer running. The original theory behind leaving it on all the time is older computers had thinner wires-the sudden voltage from being turned on could cause them to fry (that was the theory anyway) Modern computers have far better, thicker circuits which would eliminate any such issue. On top of that, there are certain things like updates that require the computer to be restarted etc. Now that being said, I know several people-my brother included who leaves theres on 24/7 and has no issues at all. Fact of the matter is, components are made far better then they used to be, and I dont really think it will kill a computer to do it either way-especially since most people (myself included) upgrade their computers at least every 2 years.

i thank everyone for their input...as far as the car analogy goes(and i say this respectfully)your car actually would like to be run 24/7...it is the starting and stopping that wears it out. however, that of course just isn't practical. i do appreciate your input(as well as everyone elses)as i am NOT a computer literate type but am trying to learn the best i can :]

This post has been edited by tuckeroo: 07 July 2011 - 07:43 AM

ewh not really, especially with automatic transmissions, leave a car with a auto on 24/7 and chances are youll burn your tranny out prematurly. As far as the engine, in many cases as long as your cooling system (fans water pump etc) is running right you probably wont hurt the motor. . . then again all it takes is a radiator hose bursting when your sleeping at night and youll wake up to a seized engine . . .law of entropy requires that all things break down over time, and the more theyre used the faster they will break down. That being said like I said in previous post, with modern components, I doubt the life expectency between a computer that is left on 24/7 and one that is shut down a lot is minimal these days.

I would just add that the Monitor consumes 75% of the energy used. So it should be off if the PC is not being used.