Does Shutting Off Your PC Daily Shorten It's Life?by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 21 Apr 2008 06:01 AM
This question comes up so very frequently, although not usually as a question. There are users on both sides who adamantly believe (and share) that it is better to either leave your computer on all of the time or shut it down when you aren't actively using it. The pro "leave it on" camp says that each time you shut and restart a computer, you risk stressing the components. The pro "shut it down" camp argues that not only does leaving the computer on when not in use waste energy, but it can go wonky if it doesn't get regular shut downs. So who is right? While there is no proven study, I personally take the expert's advice and shut down my computer when it is not in use. Shutting the computer off generally does more good than harm. Going through the shut down mode tends to help the PC organize the changed that was made to it and apply any new updates or changes (how many times do you have to restart your computer after installing new software?). It also, obviously saves energy and probably the life of your monitor. In addition, experts tell us that most PC processors have a 10-year life-span, and the PC will probably be outdated and useless before turning it off and on could affect the CPU. We have an older mac desktop (seven years old to be precise) that is still used (and shut off and on) on a daily basis. Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here. Related Articles: Friday Funny: You Know You're a Technology Hound When... Boost Your Blog Traffic: The Informational Post Ask the Blogger: Magnets and Computers Learn more about Mary Ann Romans  Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. Relevantcomputers tags User Comments CRdloader (6) 30 Oct 2008 12:18 PMIts not the cpus that most likely fail its the hard drives. When the pc is running the arm must be aliened with he disk to read it properly. Miss alignment will cause data corruption if not hard drive failure. ever tie you turn it off an back on the hd needs to realign itself. hard drives are most likely to fail during start up. The expanding and contracting of the disk can cause the arm to hit destroying it. If you got lucky enough to start your hard rive safely with no problems you should leave it running. hard drives are 15 times more lily to fail with in the first year if the computer is turned on and off. I think my data is worth a few pennies in electricity a week. When a computer is idling is uses a very low about of power. For installing updates and preventing freezes, restarting is much better. It allows the computer to reset while remaining in the "hot" state. Lastly the hard drive on your old mac book that you write about is much lower performance then today's drives. Lower capacity and slower speeds require less accuracy.  Mary Ann Romans (26876) 22 Dec 2008 01:23 PMThanks for your advice! The desktop I own is actually a G4 desktop not Mac Book, but I am sure that the advice still applies :) Community Tags pc care, shutting down, save energy, Tips, tutorial Discuss this article
|
Computing categories |
One of the greatest technology debates is not about 
