If I never shut off my computer, will it become damaged?

Question

Some say never turn off, but others say if left on all of the time then PC will be infected with viruses, worms, ect.
Which is correct?

Answer 1

Virii and worms, no, not unless you leave it connected to the Internet 24/7 and completely unprotected, and probably not even then.

BUT, remember that hard drives are rated by MTBF, meaning Mean (Average) Time Between Failure. Eventually even a good hard drive will simply wear out....the more you leave it on, the faster it will wear out. You also didn't say if it's a desktop or a laptop. It's a bad idea to leave a laptop on 24/7, since you get significantly more heat buildup, and that will shorten the life of a whole host of electronic components.

Answer 2

As long as your have a decent virus program with and keep the virus definitions updated you should be protected from viruses. Leaving it on otherwise will not hurt it. The computer is only going to get so hot at all times, it is not like it will continue to get hotter and hotter to the point that it could warm your house. It has fans in the case and usually on the processor. Actually, turn your computer off and on is worse than leaving it on because everytime you turn it off and on you are making numerous motors (fans and hard drive) cycle through.

Answer 3

Regarding hardware you are probably helping your computer to live a long time. Each time you start and stop your computer you send transient signals through it and heat it up and cool it down ... in short you stress your system with ever power cycle.

Look at this long enough and you start to see that most problems occur at poweron ... it is good if you can keep the system on all the time ... but think about the power it eats, and the heat it makes, and if something went drastically wrong and it caught on fire would it cause lots of damage?

It is unlikely that a computer will catch on fire, but leaving an electrical component always on has some minute chance of that.

Answer 4

There two aspects of your question, hardware and software. Most of your hardware should be fine leaving it on all the time. This assumes you have a working battery backup installed and ample cooling for your system. The only thing which may be at risk with continuous operation may be your disk drive. IDE drives are not generally designed for continuous operation. SCSI drives on the other hand are designed to work 24/7.

As for the software, there are 2 things you can do to reduce the virus risk during continuous operation. One is to unplug the Ethernet cable when you are gone; the other is to use a form of Linux. Personally, I only use Windows to repair other computers. I use Linux for everything else including e-mail and browsing.

Answer 5

From what I know turning your computer on and off puts lots of stress on your computer.

My PC has been running 24/7 with the occasional reboot for about 4 years now and it still runs like a champ.

Answer 6

Your computer is a machine with moving parts (hard drive and fans). If you leave it on when you are asleep or will not be using it for a few hours, you are wasting electricity and you are putting unnecessary wear on your computer's moving parts. If your computer has an intake fan (like most desktops), you are also depositing more dust inside the case the longer your leave it on.

Also, even for the non-moving parts, nothing lasts forever. The wear on your non-moving parts is imperceptible for the most part, but it is still happening.

Answer 7

if you PC haas a proper virus scanner then there is no fear of viruses. servers are normally on all the times.

actually speaking nothing happens if kept on always. but if thereis a need to do it,do it only then.

Answer 8

It's better to turn it off at night and let the fans cool.

Answer 9

It is just makes sense that if something is left on all the time it will wear sooner.
E

Answer 10

No, I keep mine on 24/7