Should You Turned Off Your Desktop Nightly?

[pedro47]

We are having this discussion after Spectrum loss power last night. Our internet system seem to be running slower this afternoon.

 

[clifffaith]

We never turn anything off. Don’t know whether that is a good idea or not.

 

[WinniWoman]

We have laptops and yes we shut them down when not in use.

 

[pedro47]

Some suggest placing the desktop computer in a Sleep Mode.
The Commander in Chief, is reading something on this issue. LOL

 

[WinniWoman]

Some suggest placing the desktop computer in a Sleep Mode.
The Commander in Chief, is reading something on this issue. LOL

We’ve done that when we know we are going to use them again shortly..

 

[BJRSanDiego]

We are having this discussion after Spectrum loss power last night. Our internet system seem to be running slower this afternoon.

I'd do an Internet Speed test. There are several. That'll give you an idea whether the Spectrum internet is slow and causing you problems or whether your PC has issues. Also consider running a scan with your anti-virus software.

Occasionally my Spectrum internet runs slow. When it does, I unplug their hardware for a minute and plug it back in. That reboots their hardware and usually has a dramatic effect.

 

[Patri]

We never turn anything off. Don’t know whether that is a good idea or not.

I don’t either.

 

[Luanne]

I turn mine off every night. My husband doesn't. He is the tech guy so maybe I should be following his lead. But from what I'm reading when I do a search for "should you turn off your desktop at night" the opinion seems to be that while you might not need to, you should. I'll just keep doing what I've been doing.

 

[DeniseM]

I put mine on "sleep," unless I'm traveling, in which case, I turn it off.

 

[callwill]

I always turn of my desktop when i am going to be away from it for more than a couple hours including over night. It was advice i was given many years ago and have stuck with it.

 

[ScoopKona]

Mine's always off when not in use. Computers generate heat. Heat kills electronics.

My "real" computer at today's prices is staying off whenever I'm not using it. Graphics cards and RAM are stupidly expensive right now. And the previous computer it replaced is nearly 20 years old. I use that as my HTPC. it streams my movie collection and digital music.

 

[Talent312]

Ever since a lighting strike fried a friend's motherboard...
I use a surge suppressor, but turn it off if there's a storm about anyway.
Otherwise, it's set to put itself to sleep.

 

[DrQ]

I used to keep my "production" laptop (Dell XPX 15 9530 Intel i9 w 64 GB RAM) in hibernate mode (Ubuntu) for about 9 months. During on "awakening", I got a corrupt BIOS warning and then it went TANGO UNIFORM on the next start up, no POST. I tried all of the self help BIOS recovery steps documented by Dell with no luck.

Given the gold rush for AI and data center build outs, the price of high end laptops has exploded due to the high demand for memory and SSDs. So I decided to send the 3 year old laptop to Dell for repair. I was able to limp a long with my sandbox system. One replaced motherboard later, my system is back up.

I don't know if it attempted to download the BIOS during its hibernation (not likely) or if a component just gave up the ghost (Dell XPS quality is not what it used to be). To be safe, I now power down.

 

[Bucky]

We have a MacMini set up with the sleep mode. Can be weeks or even months between uses since we do almost everything on our iPads. Our iPads rarely get turned off. The occasional reboot but that’s about it.

 

[Brett]

I 'sign off' my laptop and it goes to sleep mode at night. I turn it completely off when traveling.
I turn my Android tablet/reader off at night
I leave my cell phone on all the time but have "do not disturb" on at night
My Samsung watch stays on

 

[AnnaS]

I just bought a new laptop but still using my old one here and there. My laptop(s) are on all day and off at night.
Desktop also off at night. I have forgotten it on at night many times. It is really old - so now it's off most of the time.
Cell phone stays on overnight when I have an alarm set on it (anywhere from 2 to 4 times a week) - otherwise, off.
iPad is off - I don't use it much

 

[jp10558]

The reason to turn off a computer is to save money on electricity for it and cooling. I never turn off any of my computers for a few reasons. One caveat, I buy and use business grade computing, some home parts like low end spinning disks (I doubt anyone has this as pretty much everything went to SSD, but whatever) were actually for a 5 year period or so only rated for 8x5 running.

The reasons I leave them on are multiple:

1. Updates, Backups, and other processing can happen at night rather than interrupting me during the day when I want/need the computer to work.
2. Power cycles are the most "dangerous" process for computers - I've seen so many things fail to restart after being powered down due to anything from a hardware failure to a bizarre software bug that the less times I do that, the less failures I get.
3. Full temp cycles are the most stressful for electronics - so while a reboot is dangerous, heat/cool cycles of turning it off for hours and then on for hours can eventually walk things out of their sockets or break solder points. Minimizing this extends lifetime IME.
4. Long term being off is also risky - holding something off for like 6 or more months can have spinning disks freeze up, you will have all your software massively out of date till patched so
   1. you're at risk of getting a virus
   2. you're going to be spending a day or so patching before you can use the computer
   3. You also just don't know if any solid state part has just decided to not work so the longer it's off the less confidence you should have it'll start.

Does any of this overcome the cost in electricity and cooling? Only you can say, but I've not turned off a computer on a regular basis since 1996. The Commodore 128D I interacted with prior to that was so different that this stuff didn't apply the same way.

As to risk from power surges - unless you're unplugging from the wall, turning it off doesn't protect it any as far as I know, the lightning will go right up that power cord just fine even if the computer is off. So will normal surges - that said a simple surge suppressor or even better a functional AVR or better UPS will smooth out a minor to moderate surge and has insurance with it as well. Though I've never had a reason to test the insurance so IDK if it's actually that collectible.

 

[TheHolleys87]

We turn off our desktop but not our modem, router, iPads or iPhones.

 

[davidvel]

This is an old wives tale. We have multiple PCs running various streaming services, and other servers. They are never shut off. One has been going non stop for almost a decade. The only reason to shut them down is to save on electricity IMO. Businesses also run their PC servers 24/7.

 

[Jimster480]

There is no reason to turn computers off other than to save power. Usually the act of turning them off and on is more dangerous then leaving them running. It's gotten better over the years, but for laptops they mostly never really fully turn off unless the batteries are removed.
If you do leave a system on 24/7 you must clean the fans from time to time, especially in laptops which have very narrow air passageways.
Most of my laptops are "off" when not in use.

 

[SmithOp]

I don't have one, use my Google Pixel tablet, wife uses iPad. They go to sleep themselves.

 

[billymach4]

I do sleep or hibernate until the reboot push from MS. I want to conserve power and I don't feel like waiting for a reboot. I want to pick up where I left off.

 

[FunnyFarm]

My dad who was an electical engineer at Boeing working on Top Secret defense (survalence/sub chaser) stuff said this:

The processor can slowly accumulate small errors in the circutry and they can add up to create functional errors.

He recommended turning it off occasionally.

I however don't turn my laptop off very often since I have so many tabs open that I don't want to search out again.

Laptops don't have any spinning discs anymore, I think.

 

[Jimster480]

My dad who was an electical engineer at Boeing working on Top Secret defense (survalence/sub chaser) stuff said this:

The processor can slowly accumulate small errors in the circutry and they can add up to create functional errors.

He recommended turning it off occasionally.

I however don't turn my laptop off very often since I have so many tabs open that I don't want to search out again.

Laptops don't have any spinning discs anymore, I think.

Most computers don't have spinning disks anymore. Other components can still fail, most likely the battery and the cooling fans if you never clean them.

 

[1Kflyerguy]

I don't turn mine off nightly, but I do think periodic power cycling can help to clean up some performance issues. My work laptop gets shut down whenever I put it in my briefcase, but my personal laptop rarely leaves the house, so that is more of a conscious decision to shut it down.