Do you turn your computer off at night?

[Marwan]

I've searched google on this, some articles have mixed information.. What is a.) The best for the computer's performance (long-run I guess) and b.) the most power efficient? does shutting down and starting up the computer every day have any negative drawbacks, or should I just keep it on and let it sleep when not in use?

[LonesomeFugitive]

You Sir, are contributing to global warming and the death of the human species as we know it.

Turn it off, infact unplug it along with most of your appliances.

[ToeHold]

In theory, a computer left running 24x7 in a controlled (air conditioned) environment will last longer than one powered on and off throughout the day.

Computers generate heat; the heat causes plastics and connectors to expand & contract, shortening their life somewhat.

In reality, you will waste far more electricity leaving your system on compared to buying a new PC every 3 years (versus 5+ for the controlled environment.)

Upgrade sooner than 3 years? Don't worry about wear & tear.

[TreyWilly]

This is a ridiculous sample size, but I have a Dell desktop I bought in January of 2000. It was close to top-of-the-line then.

It's still my primary computer, and I have no complaints. I would guess it has been powered off <100 times.

[kerowo]

Leave them on and let the energy saving stuff watch out for them. I'd make sure the monitor shutting off works to save it.

LOL at saving enough money turning it off over 3 years to buy anything more expensive than a nice dinner.

[Beavis68]

yep, turn them off everynight.

[ToeHold]

Figure $1-2 per month per system. So $35-$70 over three years.

http://www.consumerspower.org/home_e...lestimator.php

[Guthrie]

I've heard many times that leaving them on is better on the hardware. I leave mine on mainly so that all the updates and virus scans run unattended early in the morning when I'm asleep. I'll also soon be adding automatic backup. All that together is three or four hours that's better off running when I'm not trying to run something else.

[goldtoes]

I leave them on. I do this so I can run scans/updates when I'm not at the PC, also - so I can remotely access the system when I'm not home. Also, because I'm really lazy and I don't really care about like 50 cents a month.

[ICMoney]

Haven't turned my systems off in months.

So much you can do when sleeping: datamine, torrents, anti-virus, defrag, etc.