Does it damage your computer in anyway to leave it on all the time and NEVER turn it off?

Answer 1

This has always been a great debate, and I am focusing on merely leaving it on all the time or shutting it down. There are those that argue that leaving it on all the time means all the components are working and thus wearing out. Others argue that the most wear occurs at start-up, with the surge of energy needed to get components working, is more destructive.

The biggest consumer of electricity is the CRT monitor. A LCD does not take that much at all. So, now you want a recommendation. If you only use your computer a few hours a day, turn it off at night. If you are constantly on the computer, you are not hurting anything, really, but leaving it on all the time, and just turning off the monitor and hard disk drives, automatically through an hour or so after you are not using it (left click on the desktop, click on properties, click on the screen saver tab, then click on power).

I would recommend rebooting the computer about once a week, which will clear all the garbage out of RAM. I've have a 5 year old, Pentium 833, that I still use as a file server. I've only had to replace the hard disk. But, that is the price of doing business with computers.

I hope this helps.

Answer 2

Slightly.
Your fan is constantly bringing in dust, which can help over-heat your processor. It can also slow the life of your cpu fan (not the fan bringing in the dust) The cpu fan is on top of the CPU chip that is about 1inch by 1inch. If it gets too hot because of too much dust or a weak fan, you will have data corruption.

But this is a rarity. If you plan to keep your computer on for about 5 or 6 years this is a concern. If you buy a new PC every other year, leave it on.

Answer 3

You can leave it on all the time. The enviormental control PC at work ran 24/7 for 5 years never being shut down except for routine maintenance. I leave mine on almost all the time. I do a reboot about once a week. It's 4 years old.

Answer 4

its actually much better for the computer to leave it on. you see, when you reboot the comp, all those parts have to be suddenly supplied with power and that is far more damaging than keeping them supplied consistantly. but to be honest, i have never heard of a part deteriorating because of the above scenario. i wouldnt worry about it much. the comp wont suffer any damage at all if you leave it running and the damage done at the boot up is, in my opinion, negligible.

Answer 5

Desktop are able to stay on for long periods of time. However I would suggest turning it off everyone in a while, and also turn it off and unplug it during a thunder storm, along with the Internet connection.

Notebooks however, should be turned off, when not in use, because they over heat quicker.

Answer 6

Not usually but an occasional reboot is recommended. There are other issues though like storms, power outages etc... that can effect your computer if it suddenly loses power. If you don't already have one you should consider getting a decent Universal Power Suppy (UPS) a 350 or 500 should be sufficient.

Answer 7

Not at all. It could get damaged if you are in an area prone to lightning storms, or if the temperature gets too hot and it is not properly ventilated. But just leaving it on all the time doesn't hurt it at all. And if you have scheduled scans for viruses or spy ware it has to be on for them to run.

Answer 8

I really get a kick out of the "debate" which has raged on for
years about this topic... it is actually funny.

There are two factions, both well represented here:

1/ your motors in the harddrive and CDs and fans are wearing
out the bearings, and the capacitors are drying out and losing
tolerances, the resistors are losing tolerances from generating
heat, the CRT is loosing its tolerances and burning out the
cathodes, you are using a LOT of electricity, you are vaccuuming
the air and clogging all the parts inside the machine so that
overheating heatsinks and components get even hotter, causing
even more tolerance failures, transient line voltages from brown outs, lightning, power fluctuations from other equipment surging or spiking hits your machine while it is NOT being used, ...
AND the list goes on and on, and is VERY accurate.

THEN 2/

Extremely experienced experts run huge computers and Networks with hundreds of computers in large Corporate Buildings 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with all computers
ON , all the time, and find they have fewer problems, than
if the machines are constantly turned off and on... Turning on
a computer causes a surge of power, and cold resistors and
capacitors and transistors EXPAND with the heat from turning
on, and CONTRACT everytime they are turned off, so that a
constant temperature will lessen premature failure from mechanically induced thermal cycling....

OK.

Here is the catch.

I worked in large Corporate buildings with emergency back up
generators providing switchmode 400 cycle mechanical and
battery backup, absolutely thermostatically controlled, humidity
controlled, air, 24 hours a day, with anti-static carpets, specially
designed power distribution, with numerous power distribution,
communications cabling, and electrostatic precautions. The
computers never shut off, and run in electrostatically cleaned,
temperature modified, humidity modified, ionization modified,
air purification channels...

I also see home computers run in large rooms, near huge plate glass windows, which allow the sun to raise the temperature from freezing cold on a winter night, to burning hot on a sunny
afternoon, sitting on a carpet with NO static reduction, with air that changes from swampy steam on a rainy hot afternoon, to dry as a bone ( static magnet ) on a cold winter day, with dogs and cats producing hair balls, people smoking, someone taking a vaccuum cleaner every couple of days and rubbing all over the carpet, and then sweeping the keyboard, the mouse, the printer,
and the outside of the computer with the vaccuum brush, kids randomly pushing the floppy, the CD, the RESET, the ON/OFF
and any other buttons on the front etc. etc. etc.
There is no Battery Back Up, no Ethernet, and Telephone
surge or lightning protector, no regulated power bar. The wall
outlet they are using for the entire computer and components is
on a 15 AMP circuit that powers half the house, so the washing
machine, the TV, vaccuum cleaner, the garage door opener motor, and a dozen other high amperage devices, all DIM the
line, every time they turn on, sending spikes and brown outs
through the computer. Great stuff.

BUT..... These people tell me that the " EXPERTS " say to
leave the computer running 24 hours a day, since it will last
twice as long....

A few of the answers indicate that IFF you have a UPS and
Iff you have surge and AVR and IFF you ..... whatever, then
it is better to leave the computer on 24 / 7, but no one
makes even a CLOSE list to the LONG, LONG, LONG
list of things you MUST do to run a computer 24 hours a day
saftley and properly.

The argument usually involves people from vastly different
situations arguing about Apples and Oranges, as if they were
the same thing....

Prepare a simple list here .....

1/ What is the relative humidity of your air, 24/7 ?
2/ What is the absolute temperature or your air, 24/7?
3/ What is mean, standard deviation and error of the 167 volts
A.C. power supply peak power supply 24/7?
4/ What is micron filtering capacity of your air handling unit, 24/7?
5/ what anit-static compounds are sprayed on or manufactured into all floor coverings used in the " computer room" 24/7?
6/ What surge protection, and AVR protection is supplied to the
computer, and ALL its peripherals, 24/7?
7/ What security measures are affected in the " computer " room
to prevent unauthorized usage or miss-useage by unauthorized personnel 24/7 ?
8/ What are the sampled ION levels in the airflow 24/7?

This is just a teeny, tiny, SHORT list.

Once you have filled it out, then you have a better idea of whether or not you can run your computer.... 24/7 /

FURTHERMORE.... If you go into any computer repair shop,
you will find in the corner a stack of burnt out motherboards, and
burnt out power supplies, all ATX, the new, common standard.
Most of the boards look like brand new on a casual inspection,
and many of the power supplies look perfectly new if opened.
A good number of power supplies, however, when opened will
have a heat resistant resistor and at least one capacitor bloated
split or blown apart. This resistor and capacitor are usually the
5 VOLT VSB supply related components....
The reason for this common failure is that ATX power supplies
and motherboards NEVER TURN OFF. A great many computer
cases now, have NO OFF SWITCH on the back on the power
supply, and people, not realizing this, " turn off " their computers
during electrical storms, thunder storms, tornadoes, etc. and
the front panel lights go off, and the monitor "goes off", and they
think that the computer is " OFF ". It is not off. You can set
an ATX computer to turn on with WOL Wake on LAN, so that
if the ethernet cable signals the ethernet card, the ATX power supply
turns on. The Connector for WOL is on the motherbord. You can set and ATX computer to come with WOR Wake on Ring from
the modem PCI card , so that if the phone rings, the computer
turns on. You can set many ATX machines to turn on with movement of the mouse, or with a key sequence from the keyboard. You can set most ATX computers to turn on at a pre-set clock time. You can check the available options by going into your BIOS on BOOT, by pressing " DEL " or whatever key sequence, and go into the pages of settings.
What people are not thinking is " how can the keyboard, the mouse, the Modem, the LAN, or the clock turn on the computer?
How does the computer " Know " that I moved the mouse?
The answer is that the power supply NEVER turns off, and a
5 volt rail always is supplied to the USB, the Mouse, the Keyboard, and throughout the motherboard. So that when the
computer is "OFF" during a fierce thunderstorm, with brownouts,
spikes, blackouts, phase shifts, and repeated ON/OFF power
fluctuations, the entire computer is subjected to all the "BAD"
power comming in on the 110 volt plug. I get many blown up
motherboards on a regular basis, and the people say " I turned
it OFF during the storm" but now it won't go...
The light on the front of the panel is ZERO indication of whether
an ATX machine is " off ". and .... if you note on most monitors
today, the light never goes off, it just changes colour, since the
low voltage control cirguits are, again always on, and ALWAYS subjected to power fluctuations, spikes, and transients.
The only way to turn off a computer in many instances is to
plug everything associated with the computer into a power bar,
with an ON/OFF mechanical switch on the BAR.


AND, don't forget, of course, ALL buildings, and ALL houses,
around the world, are IDENTICAL, so that there is only ONE
answer to this question, and it is always the SAME answer...

robin

Answer 9

it is ok to let the PC running non-stop for let say a month, but make sure your PC have a good ventilation system, suction fan, exhaust fan, (12cm suction fan, 12cm exhaust fan, recommended) try to maintain the temperature of the CPU/processor. It won't be any problem if you are in air-conditioned room.

Also make sure you install AVR(automatic voltage regulator) to you power outlet, in case of lightning strike or power surge. AVR protect your PC when these things happen. The function of AVR is to trip your PC when power surge in order to protect them, and sacrifice itself in case of lightning strike.

Answer 10

Not really, I do suggest that you put it in standby mode when you arent using it. Your computer can run indefinitly, but I would turn it off if you know that you wont be using it for more than 48 hours.