Is it bad to always keep desktop computer turned on???

S

Smudge

New Member
I usually use my computer (Dell Desktop XPS 400) for web surfing each morning, and sometimes throughout the day when I do not have to go into work. But usually I get up in the morning surf for a bit and then go to work. I return 8 hours or so later and use the computer on and off for the remainder of the evening. Is it bad to leave the computer on all the time or should I shut it off between uses? I currently have Windows XP Media with a high speed broadband connection. I have the screen saver set to come on after 10 minutes, and then the hard disk drive and monitor to shut off after 30 minutes of no useage. However, I am wondering if I should just shut off my computer when I know that I will not be using it for an extended period of time. It is just such a pain to load it up each time I power up the machine. Also, I do the same method with my laptop (screen saver on after 10 minutes followed by hard disk and monitor shutting off after 30 minutes of no useage).

Any info as to whether or not it is a good/bad idea keeping my computer on all the time is much appreciated.

P.S. I always have anti virus and firewall running.
 
It is almost better for your hard drive to not keep starting and stopping all the time. Running your computer all the time isn't a bad thing.
 
It does wear parts out a bit faster, but as Jet said, it's not good for the HD to start and stop. My rule of thumb, if you don't plan to use the machine for say an hour, shut it down or suspend it.
 
Other than the wear on the parts, it doesn't hurt anything. You might find that you need to clean it out more often because while it's running it is constantly sucking in more dust. Plus you might go bad sooner, then again it may not. You never know. Personally i leave mine on for 36-48 hours at a time without powering it down.
 
works great! just like screen saver only better. plus its used by laptops whenever you close the screen...
 
lhstud10 said:
plus its used by laptops whenever you close the screen...
Click to expand...

I CAN'T DESCRIBE HOW MUCH I HATE THAT. I always turn that function off because if i close my lid for a few seconds then when i open it back up i have to sit around and wait for my computer to come out of stand by mode and i become very impatient. I do use Hybernate though, in reality thats a much better thing in my opinion because there is absolutely no power consumption and it's almost as fast as entering or exiting stand by mode. But thats just me.
 
This has been discussed many times before, and will continue to be discussed..

but anyway, it's not the worst thing you can do to your computer. It will cause more wear on the parts, as the others have said, however, even if you leave it running all day, it will still more likely last until your next computer, and then some. My computer before this one (a Dell) I left on nearly 24/7, and it was in use for about 2 years, until I replaced it with this one, which I still leave on all the time. The only times I shut if off are if I know I'm not going to be here to use it, like when we go on vacation, or when I go to camp.
 
Both of my computers are turned on 24/7, almost every single day and I've been doing this for years. I've never had any significant problems except I did burn out a CPU heatsink fan that you could attribute to excessive wear. That's a $15 part though.
 
24/7 100% cpu load and never had a problem.
I run up to 8 of them so I turn monitors off to help keep running costs down. :D
 
the longer you leave your computer on the faster it will get because most of the programs are already loaded into memory :) this is not the case if you have little ram and junk cpu thats likes to overheat :)
 
I leave mine on. I get one it around 6:45, then use it untill 7. Then go to school. When i get back, im on it on and off the rest of the day. So it be a waiste of time to turn int off, since i use it alot.
 
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