Is it okay to leave your desktop on for some 35 hours?

Question

If not, then what is the maximum, safe time limit you could leave your desktop on? Please also include the conditions (like below 70 F or not)

If not, then what is the maximum, safe time limit you could leave your desktop on? Please also include the conditions (like below 70 F or not)


So, if I turn it into hibernate mode, will it still be running applications, like say downloading files?

Answer 1

PCs are often left on for months at a time with no damaging effects whatsoever.

Certainly this must be under normal room temperatures & conditions.

During hibernation or standby the PC is powered off ... it will not be running any applications. The internal clock is always on & processes affected by timers or schedules will turn it back on.

A healthy, well designed PC can be left running for years with an occasional reboot to clear cache and memory. This is no revelation ... PCs all over the world run 24/7 365 days a year, & not just servers.

The PC I'm using at this moment has been on since last August. I use a temperature warning system to shut off the unit in case anything should overheat.

Monitors (especially CRT) should be left in standby ot completely off when not in use.

regards,
Philip T

Answer 2

Actually, it's safer to keep your desktop on than to continually turn it on and off. Remember that the parts that move will wear out first. There are a limited number of components that move including the hard drive, fans, and floppy or cd drives. Starting and stopping the computer halts the header on the hard drive or the fan mechanism, hightening the possibility that there may be a failure in the future. Just as your car's stops and starts do more damage than highway miles, a computer's stops and starts do the same. I personally keep mine on all the time, and schedule virus scans and updates when I know I won't be around.

As for temperature... the colder the better. All those fans on your system are designed to make the air flow away from parts that get hot. Most computer manufacturers suggest a 'normal' room temperature of about 65-75 degrees. Basic rule of thumb is.. if you're hot, the computer's probably hot too.

Answer 3

Some good answers, some really bad ones. Leave your computer turned on, but use Power Management to put it into a hybernate state. This will save on power consumption and will stop the hard drive(s) from spinning, which will extend their life. The fans are the only other component that will wear out, and if you hybernate your computer they will run at reduced speed.

Answer 4

here it is, is not good because it does takes power and u have to pay more in the bill, but if u don't care about that it is good depending in what are u using it for, if u install a lot of programs during that time, u must turn it off and on because that takes a lot of memory card something i don't really remember and it makes ur computer run slow and slow, u wont notice it right away but it will damage ur computer status, well u can defragment it if that hapens and then all good again, plus when u leave it on, the imformation the computer gets from the internet is gathering in ur pc and it will take some space, that is a problem if ur pc is runing low in space, if not don't worry, it don't take much, one time i left my pc for almost 4 weeks and it gathered 1.2gb space in trash files that automaticaly delete it self when u restar the pc, another problem is the temperature, under 90 is good, make it under 80, just to be secure, add fans to ur cpu, at least 2 minimun.... but my advice to u is " use hibernate mode" do u know what it is? if don't well it saves all ur pc status and then shuts off, then when u turn it on again it is like if u never turned it off, same thing like if u never turned it off, how to do it? do this--- start then click where it says turn off computer- then when the window appears, it says stand by, shut down and restart -- well when it appears press "shift" it is in the keyboard under caps lock, hold it and where it was stand by it will change to hibernate, press it and u have done it....hoped i helped ya...
make me best answer please-- pretty please with ice cream on the top, : )

Answer 5

it is no problem to open for 35 hor long
but when hibernate mode ,the downloading process will not run....
so u can,t download file

Answer 6

I always leave my desktop turned on as the screens do not get damaged with the modern terminals and laptops> also pretty much any reasonable temperature is fine too>

Answer 7

Leave it on as long as you like, no conditions. It is made to run. I turn mine off about once a week.

Answer 8

Mine runs for weeks at a time without me shutting it down. This is not just idling either, it's crunching numbers for Stanford with both cores running at nearly 100%.

Answer 9

SURE NO PROBLEM - i use to leave mine on for up to 8 days when i was using Dial-up to download BIG files - (imagine that...ugh) - but what you have to do is change your settings so it wont switch off automatically

DO THIS (assuming you have XP)

Right click your desktop and go Properties / Screensaver / Power / Power Schemes

then change Power Schemes to "Always On"
then change Turn off monitor: to "Never"
then change Turn off hard disks: to "Never"
then change System standby: to "Never"

click Apply / Ok / then set your Screensaver to "NONE" / Apply / OK - then youre good to go ;)

In choosing to leave it on for long periods though you must make sure your PC is in clean & cool environment and also its good practice to have a power surge protector on

Answer 10

who ever suggested the power save settings is an idiot.
if you really need to leave your computer on then so be it, but what is the point in setting the monitor to "always on"? pathetic waste of energy and your money.