How often do you turn off your computer?
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Senior User
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 288
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From: Northeast Wisconsin
How often do you turn off your computer?
Do you do it every time you leave your house? Do you turn it off if you go on vacation for a week or more? What do you do if you're running the Folding@Home program, you're half way through a difficult Work Unit, and you leave home for a number of days? Do you shut down FAH, then turn off your computer, or just let it run?
TIA for any responses.
TIA for any responses.
Fleet Owner
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 25,090
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From: Rio Rico, AZ.
It gets shut down every night. I have three desktops, two of them nearly ten years old and still doing thier job. Basic stuff like print server and the wife's email machine. Both of them are old enough to be only 500mhz but they are the most reliable computers in the house.
Mine is a 1.5ghz water cooled gaming rig that is just as reliable, but I don't game anymore, too gray.
The one at work get's so full of dust that it overheats and locks up. I take it apart and blow it clean, (cough, choke), and then it works fine for another six months.
My newest one is a Compaq Presario V6000 with 2 gigs of ram that I just bought as a refurb unit. It's always shutting down on it's own due to the power saving feature.
Mine is a 1.5ghz water cooled gaming rig that is just as reliable, but I don't game anymore, too gray.
The one at work get's so full of dust that it overheats and locks up. I take it apart and blow it clean, (cough, choke), and then it works fine for another six months.
My newest one is a Compaq Presario V6000 with 2 gigs of ram that I just bought as a refurb unit. It's always shutting down on it's own due to the power saving feature.
Postmaster
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 4,155
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From: Southern Louisiana
I restart my desktop when I get updates or defrag, my laptop gets turned off when I wont be using it for few hours or more and the computer at work is lucky if it is restarted without the power having gone out.
Moderator
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 164,379
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From: MA
My PC's get turned off anytime we are not home.. Sometimes they run for an hour sometimes 16 hrs.
I tell my customers to turn them off also..
No need to have them running 24x7.. only wasting energy and shortening the life.
I have seen where pc's that run constantly then are shut down, either by power outage or on purpose, do not want to start up again.
I had 1 customer who took my advice and started to turn his pc off.. Well he forgot one night and the next morning he smelled something electrical burning. He quickly unplugged the pc, but it was fried...
Who knows what would have happened if he wasn't home to catch it...
Shut them down when not in use... They are electrical components and can catch on fire anytime...
Would you want to come home to find your house burned just because you didn't want to wait a few minutes for your pc to turn on?
I tell my customers to turn them off also..
No need to have them running 24x7.. only wasting energy and shortening the life.
I have seen where pc's that run constantly then are shut down, either by power outage or on purpose, do not want to start up again.
I had 1 customer who took my advice and started to turn his pc off.. Well he forgot one night and the next morning he smelled something electrical burning. He quickly unplugged the pc, but it was fried...
Who knows what would have happened if he wasn't home to catch it...
Shut them down when not in use... They are electrical components and can catch on fire anytime...
Would you want to come home to find your house burned just because you didn't want to wait a few minutes for your pc to turn on?
Moderator
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 164,379
Likes: 82
From: MA
Originally Posted by sierraben
bigdaddyII, how often are you suppose to "defrag" a computer? Thanks
This is a pre XP maintenance item..
XP handles disk allocation better than Windows 98/me..
In fact when you run it it usually tells you there is no need to defrag..
I would only do it after removing alot of programs from the Hard drive..
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Posting Guru
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 2,105
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From: Anchorage Alaska
shut
I shut mine down every time im done using it.. ine time i had a new computer and used it for a week then left it on to download some stuff while i was at work.. well came home to a power supply in the ciomputer that caught on fire, and blackend the wall behind the minitower!!! never will i leave it on again... i have even thought about just unplugging them when im on vacation
ray
ray
Post Fiend
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 6,473
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From: Lafayette, IN
My desktop stays on 24/7, unless we leave for a couple days. I've heard from some techies that it's better to leave them on as they maintain temp better--repeated hot(running)/cold(off) cycles can work components loose or even break circuitry.
It's also not just about the on/off cycling, it's about updates and such...they can be downloaded automatically any time, one at a time, instead of a whole slew when I turn on the computer. I replace the desktop about every 5 years, but I have the last one still, and could probably fire it back up if I wanted. Usually, hard drives are the first to go, so I slap in a new one every couple of years or so. Each new computer I've bought has cost about a third of the previous, at about 10x the performance.
Jason
It's also not just about the on/off cycling, it's about updates and such...they can be downloaded automatically any time, one at a time, instead of a whole slew when I turn on the computer. I replace the desktop about every 5 years, but I have the last one still, and could probably fire it back up if I wanted. Usually, hard drives are the first to go, so I slap in a new one every couple of years or so. Each new computer I've bought has cost about a third of the previous, at about 10x the performance.
Jason
Post Fiend
Joined: Sep 2005
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From: in the adirondack mts
mine go off every night and if i'm out of the house for more than a short time. hell i shut off the water heater and dryer circuit if im gone for more than 2 days.
as to F&H, i pause them when i shut down. the WU's seem to start faster when i restart the PC or LT
as to F&H, i pause them when i shut down. the WU's seem to start faster when i restart the PC or LT
Postmaster
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 3,529
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From: The Star-Club, Hamburg
Mine gets shut off every night, although there's been a few times I left to go to my town job and forgot to shut down. If I'm going to be out of the house for any length of time, I shut down. Never had any issues with fires or anything like that (knock on wood!) The thing is about 4 years old now, and no real problems with it.
Posting Guru
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 2,105
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From: Anchorage Alaska
ya
well i have seen a few catch fire.. i think its mostly the ones that are in households with animals or high dust.. since i have seen pet hair and dust bunnies tick enough in the power supply fans on some peoples that they would no longer turn..
some actually melt the fan blades
ray
some actually melt the fan blades
ray
Senior User
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 336
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I've seen 5 catch on fire/start smoking and every one was in a computer lab when I was in college. That was enough to make me shut mine down every time I'm not going to be using it for awhile or if I'm leaving the house.