2006-12-13 02:48:17 · 7 answers · asked by MB2008 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Other - Hardware
The power supply and PC is designed to be left on for long periods of time. It only uses very little electricity when in a stand-bye mode or inactive. But, you can turn it off everyday if you'de like.
John
A+ Cetified
2006-12-13 02:52:04 · answer #1 · answered by A+ Certified Professional 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In terms of power consumption, it is more "efficient" to turn it off. It's even better to unplug it, as some power supplies do have a power draw even when turned off.
In terms of computer life, it is more "efficient" to leave it on all the time. Computer components expand and contract whenever they cool and heat. This expansion and contraction will, over time, cause higher failure rates in the transistors and microchips embedded in the circuit boards. Still, since the average "lifetime" of a computer is about 1 to 3 years, it's pretty much inconsequential, unless you plan on using a computer way beyond it's meaningful service life. By the time you would notice your parts breaking down, it would probably be better to buy upgrades anyways.
2006-12-13 11:11:24 · answer #2 · answered by frenzee2000 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you mean, energy efficient, then of course the most efficient step is to turn it off overnight - and the best way to do this is usually to use the hibernation feature of windows (you can enable it by going to the desktop, rightclick and click properties => screensaver => power settings => hibernation tab => enable hibernation, once you have enabled that you can hibernate by pressing start => shutdown => hold down shift and standby will change to hibernate which you then click.
What hibernation does is it saves your current state to the hard disk and turns the computer off completely, when you want to use your computer again you start it up as normal and it loads your previous state from the hard drive - often this will take a matter of a few seconds, depending on how much RAM you have and how fast your hard disk is...
2006-12-13 11:07:41 · answer #3 · answered by timmoi 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it's a good idea to shut down and restart at least once a week to allow automatically updated programs to reboot. the greatest stress placed on a CPU is during start up, so it's actually better if you don't shut down every day. current firewalls and OS protections greatly minimize the risk of being hacked via the Internet while the computer is in standby/sleep mode.
2006-12-13 10:58:05 · answer #4 · answered by Super G 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
well it depends. computers today can stay on for weeks even months without having too many problems. however, think about this. the longer your computer is on, the more susceptible it is to virus attacks. if you have broadband internet like dsl or cable internet, your computer is always connected to the internet whether you have internet explorer on or not. so if you leave your computer on all night, it is just waiting out in cyberspace to be attacked. however, if you have a firewall - you should be safe. you can leave your computer on, but i would always shut it down for a while at least once a month to give it a rest. hope that helps!
2006-12-13 10:53:57 · answer #5 · answered by rchilly2000 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I leave mine on 24/7, that way I don't have to wait for it to start up every time I want to use it. The downside is that it will use more electricity.
2006-12-13 10:57:33 · answer #6 · answered by Yoi_55 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A good computer should only need a reboot about once every three weeks to clear it out. Other than that....just leave it on.
2006-12-13 11:10:38 · answer #7 · answered by Barrett G 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋