Poll: Leave it on or turn it off?

[ablang]

Q: Do you leave your computer on or turn it off?

A:
YES
NO

Q: What if you could have boot times of 30 seconds or less w/ any OS, would you answer be the same?

[dos7]

hmm,,boot times of 30 seconds or less,,i just might consider shutting my computer off,,but usually,,,i just walk away from it and leave it as it is.

Power usage and conservationism aside,,leave that thing on,,but turn it off if you like,,modern solid state circuitry is not as susceptible to thermal expansion/contraction as say,,a computer of several years ago when ram would "walk" out of it's slot due to the constant cycling of thermal expansion from turning the machine on and off. It's just not an issue anymore really. there are many ways to look at it really,,the only thing to genuinely worry about when leaving the computer on,,aside from power spikes/outages,, is the mechanical wear of the HDD,

old old computers,,leave'em on,,,new computers,,leave'em on,,turn'em off,,,whatever you like, it's really a non-issue with current home computers as far as wear and tear go.


dos7

[NDC]

It wouldn't matter how long it took to boot the system.....

I ALWAYS turn off my system when not in use....

[daverme]

Boot time is irrelevant.

I have gone through three phases: (a) BEFORE I started telecommuting, I just habitually turned it off, without thinking, just a reflex reaction. (b) AFTER I started telecommuting and I dialed into a Shiva server, I just as habitually left it on and, on occasion, left it connected to my workplace overnight. (c) Now that I have a cable modem, I turn it off as a security measure.

Using Zonealarm, I can disallow Internet access and leave the machine on, and I will sometimes do that for lunch breaks, naps, etc. If I'm going to be away for any length of time, though, it has now become a habit, once again, to just turn it off.

[Richard_Cranium72]

OFF

[Barney]

On, always on. I'm crackin' RC5 (http://sysopt.earthweb.com/rc5team.html) .

It's very noisy with 9 fans. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/frown.gif
I think both me and my computer could use a break. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

Ronald

[OuTpaTienT]

Um, we've had this poll about a dozen times already.

[nunyadam]

theres an off button?
crack'n rc5 so i just leave it on.
the only time i shut them down is for upgrades or maintenance.

[jaida]

on all the time even if the os booted in less than 30 sec it wouldn't make a difference to me

[MiKe85]

on

[MiKe85]

on seti

[grieg]

At work I leave my computer on, at home I turn it off it's in my bedroom and I don't want to hear the fan running all night long!

[This message has been edited by grieg (edited 03-14-2001).]

[AuraEdge]

Mines on 24/7, and Im crackin RC5 too.
And Im in a dorm room..even with my Clocked up Ghz, I only keep 3 fans in there (2 case fans and a Articooler fan, I bought because it cooled well and was quiet).
Its one thing if it doesnt bother me, but its another thing when my roommates dont mind.

[wahrez]

As my computer is in my bedroom, this is how my day goes.....
1) Rollout of bed.
2) In mid-roll hit power button on both machines.
3) Usual days work (machine on all day).
4a) Time for bed!
4b) Activate AutoExit (nice tool for scheduling shut-down)...play some relaxing MP3's
5c) Climb in to bed and drift off to sleep knowing that computer will power down in about 30 minutes!

..Wahrez!!!

If the machines weren't in my bedroom...in fact I'm getting an office for my company in the next two weeks...computers will be on all the time!

[captpete]

On. Also avoid a hard boot when a soft boot will do. On advice of college computer instructor. I do not like the heat the monitors put off, however.

[Ironforge]

The only time I typically turn mine off is when I am going to upgrade it or swap out hardware..

otherwise it's on 24/7..

[Warthog]

yes, we have had this poll a lot...

My comp is in bedroom and I am a very "picky" sleeper <-- need no lights, no sound, etc.

Warthog

[randy48]

All 130+ machines running 24/7 RC5 http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

[Cygnus-X1]

Off
and off

[gr8vfr]

All of them always ON...

[BIGO]

On 24/7 except to change hardware...fax and phone answerer always need to be ready.

[socalgal]

lol Randy http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

All 3 running 24/7 cracking RC5 http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

[linux_guru]

OFF, unless I'm using them. Although, usually on all weekend.

[jim.t]

OFF

[muno]

Off for the time not using since it eats a s*itload of batteries from my cordless to just have it lying around doing nothing. Does someone know a way of turning the cordless desktop pro(logitech) into power saving (that it wouldn't send/receice anything). No, I don't want to enter standby mode due to that I listen to music most of the time. But if I could listen music without draining the batteries I'd be happy.
But it's _off_, for now =)
-M

[KMBALO]

ussually on all day, I have my power mgmnt set to turn off hard-drive and monitor after 1 hour if It's not being used, so if I'm downloading from Napster or someones downloading from me the computer will still stay on line and also save Hdrive hours and monitor screen. How ever Hard-drives are built to run 20,000 to 50,000 hours! (spin)
maybe even more than that, so HD wear doesn't concern me too much.

[welsh wizard]

On , so the systems don't get subjected to power spikes on power up.
The only ones that get shut down are systems that don't have a CPU temp monitor on board to protect against fan failure.

WW

[vass0922]

off http://www.sysopt.com/forum/frown.gif
It's too **** loud!!
sheesh I live near an international airport and I'm not sure which one is louder LOL

[nilknarf]

I usually turn off any computers which won't be used for a while. My office computer gets turned off every night.

There's two major things about tunring off the computer, forgetting the boot time (which isn't an issue for me since I'm one of those multi-tasking types). The first, the OS (sometimes me) gets a chance to do some clean up on restart. Second, and this goes for all electronics, regardless of when they were built. Certain electronic components need to be cycled off and on (or vice-versa) every once in a while in order to prolong their life.

I seem to remember responding to a few other threads like this too.

Tim

[gauge]

I like to leave mine running 24/7. Ive got 6 fans installed and they make some noise so I moved it out of my bedroom and downstairs were it's more convenient and quite. I think I'm just impatient and dont like to wait for the boot. I just like to sit down and take off. By the time the parts wear and tear it will be time to upgrade.

[sharder8]

Off!

From "Cold" start to full up is only 18 sec., so no big deal. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

Running CyberPower 900AVR, so not worried about spikes or brownouts. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

Trying to save electricity for them folks just south of here in CA! http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

Harder

[brandon184]

On. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

When I was a baby, my mother rocked me to sleep to the sound of loud music. I swear!

- Brandon

[rh71]

Boot time isn't a factor for me.

I had an AMD K6-2/350MHz and left that on all the time.

Now I have a 1GHz T-bird and if I know I won't be using it for 12+ hours, I power it off. I usually go to bed at 1am or so and won't be using it again till around 5:30pm the next day after work... I always power it off on weeknights.