Are you suppose to turn off the modem (put on standby mode) when you're finished with the computer, or leave it on all the time?

What I do, after my session(s) with the laptop, is leave my laptop on and hit the "standby" button on top of the modem (it turns off all of them little lights, except the standby light), then in the morning, I hit the "standby" button again to get them little lights on again.

BTW, I have yet to turn off the laptop since March, 2005.

 

Probably wouldn't hurt to reboot Ben. Windows XP needs to be turned off rather frequently to run at top efficiency. Say... ever 1-3 days.

What kind of modem? Sounds like a cable or DSL modem maybe??? No use turning the modem off. It doesn't need to be. Our cable modem is on 100% of the time. It doesn't hurt anything.

Ryan

 

Yeah, me too. Cable modem and router are on 24/7.

 

Ryan, It's a Motorola cable modem.

In all honesty I do the required reboot after any updates.

I just don't shut down the laptop in the evening.

Thanks for the info. Much appreciated.

 

DSL router, wireless access point, and computer are on 24x7x365. There's no reason to turn them off.

Where did you get that information from? Modern operating systems stay up 24x7 with no loss of 'efficiency'.

 

I work for Boeing as a support techy type. With around a gazillion laptops, Boeing's policy is that if it isn't being used, shut it down.

A pretty neat feature for desktop operating systems, like WIN XP Pro. is the ability to place the machine into standby mode for short periods of time. Unfortunately, laptops are sold for the most part with the same configuration that would be found on a desktop including the standby function. I say unfortunately because laptops, as compared to desktops, are meant to be moved. Laptops don't like standby nor hibernate.

Without going into a long spiel about hardware configuration, hardware profiles, etc. when a computer is first turned on, each device that is connected to it becomes a part of that machine (the "hardware profile") and if the laptop is left on and connected to another network drop or access point, it doesn't see the change in it's profile (different access point = different hardware = different hardware profile) and it will be difficult to get on the network.

So, before moving the laptop, turn it off. That way it will see the new hardware when it powers up and there won't be a problem.

No operating system, even on a server, can stay up 24x7 without losing efficiency. Anytime an update, patch, new software, or application, etc. is installed, the machine needs to be shutdown in order for changes to take place.

 

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by that - laptops are designed, as you say, to be moved. Why would you go through the process of shutting down and rebooting if you can standy or hibernate and not have to save all your work and close your applications.

That's not true at all - you can take a laptop (or any desktop) and move it around to as many network drops and wireless access points as you want. They are designed that way. The only thing that changes when you do that is the network configuration - IP address, subnet mask, default route, etc. Those things are not part of the hardware profile, whereas things like network adapters and video cards are.

Additionally, there are things on a laptop that are designed to be removed while the laptop is up and running, like PCMCIA cards and CD/DVD rom drives. You don't have to shut down to add or remove those devices.

Again, not true. You can leave a server, desktop, or laptop up as long as you like. It does not 'lose efficiency'. Ask Ken when the last time he rebooted any of the FTE servers. More likely than not, it's been more than a couple months.

Most of the time when you install an application on a windows box, the only reason it needs to be rebooted when you install an application is to start a new service. You can just start the service manually and skip the reboot. Of course, there are exceptions to this.

I have been working in the IT industry for 10 years now. I have done development (programming), systems administration for environments huge and tiny and everything in between, desktop support for hundreds of end-users, and countless other things server and desktop related. So I'm pretty well qualified to make those statements.

 

What I meant, andym, is that when you keep up a PC, you're going to continue to mount the number of processes. Our PC's don't have quad opteron setups with 8 gigs of ram, so we have to shut them down to keep the ram relatively clear, drivers clean, corruptions down, etc. Memory controllers start having more of a mess to deal with. The information isn't completely wiped when you close an app. When remnants of programs are running, it's no longer going as fast as it can.

Ryan

 

Maybe that was a problem back in 1998 when NT4 was all the rage, but things have changed considerably since then. Memory management is not perfect, but it does not the problems that you describe today. I'm not saying it's not possible to have memory leaks, but they are not near as drastic as your describe. The worst offenders are generally adware and spyware, and if someone has a ton of this stuff running, they deserve the poor performance and frequent reboots.

But a well-maintained PC doesn't need to be rebooted. The only time ours at home gets rebooted is if I install updates. It might go a month between reboots, and the performance is exactly the same before and after the reboot.

These problems that you're talking about - "keep the ram relatively clear, drivers clean, corruptions down" is pretty vague. It coule be interpreted to mean just about anything.

 

Andym, that sounds like what our IT people say. In fact if they have to shutdown any of the servers, you know it's a bad day. They also ask us time and time again (but you IT guys know we don't listen) NOT to shutdown any workstations. When they have to install patches or updates it takes them a lot longer if they have to run around turning workstations on. In terms of DSL and cable modems, I was always told not to shut them down. I do however turn my home computer off at night, there's just doesn't seem to be a reason to keep using electricity like that.

 

You do not have to shut it off, but, you should unplug the data cable. It is possible to turn them on remotely even in "stand by mode" and dial into your computer. Plus, there are some programs that can dial out while you are sleeping when it determines you have not been using the computer and are asleep.

 

I would suggest to ya an external cooling bottom tray if it runs powered all of the time

 

I have not turned off my Cable modem in 6 months or so and only did it then because I was moving some furniture around.

I turn my computer off once a month and that is when Microsoft does it's monthly patch/update. second Tuesday of every month I think. And if a restart isn't required by the update then it may go 2 or 3 months without being turned off. Never had a problem.