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Pale Rider
06-19-2007, 12:44 PM
.... leave your computer on, or turn it off?

I've heard both, and I've always turned mine off. But what does everybody else do, and why?

And if you leave it on, how much electricity does that eat in a month?

CockySOB
06-19-2007, 01:03 PM
Mine runs 24x7x365 (and yes, it's Windows XP Pro for your Linux users out there). I've had very little downtime that wasn't by my own choice (storms and the like I disconnect it). And this computer has been running since ~2001 in its current configuration.

Monkeybone
06-19-2007, 01:03 PM
i turn mine off. even if you do turn it one, you should still turn it off once in awhile

nevadamedic
06-19-2007, 01:07 PM
.... leave your computer on, or turn it off?

I've heard both, and I've always turned mine off. But what does everybody else do, and why?

And if you leave it on, how much electricity does that eat in a month?

I leave my desktop on and turn my laptop off. If it has a good fan then you can leave it on. I also put an exaust fan in the desktop and they go from 5-10 dollars. Since most of the power supplies after 2002 are energy star compliant it desn't cost much at all. Just remember to keep your monitor turned off if your not there, especially if it's and LCD as they have a lifespan measured in hours used.

Pale Rider
06-19-2007, 01:07 PM
Mine runs 24x7x365 (and yes, it's Windows XP Pro for your Linux users out there). I've had very little downtime that wasn't by my own choice (storms and the like I disconnect it). And this computer has been running since ~2001 in its current configuration.

Do you have any idea what it costs you as far as electricity to leave it as opposed to turning it off?

CockySOB
06-19-2007, 01:08 PM
i turn mine off. even if you do turn it one, you should still turn it off once in awhile

Performing a hard reboot (turning off power to the system) is a good idea once in a while just to allow the OS to reset its memory system. But turning it off and leaving it off for more than 30 minutes (general rule) will produce thermal wear and tear on the circuitry which can shorten the life of the components.

That 30 minutes is a general rule I use to compensate for cases with poor airflow/ventilation and dirty innards. New computers in well-ventilated areas which are opened and cleaned regularly will tend to need much less time to reach cool-down, usually 5-10 minutes maximum.

nevadamedic
06-19-2007, 01:09 PM
Mine runs 24x7x365 (and yes, it's Windows XP Pro for your Linux users out there). I've had very little downtime that wasn't by my own choice (storms and the like I disconnect it). And this computer has been running since ~2001 in its current configuration.

Just get a good surge protector, I reccommend the Monster brand, they can take a big hit so you dont have to turn it off and unplug it durging storms. I can get you a link to their site if you want to see what im talking about. I also reccommend a battery back up.

Pale Rider
06-19-2007, 01:09 PM
I leave my desktop on and turn my laptop off. If it has a good fan then you can leave it on. I also put an exaust fan in the desktop and they go from 5-10 dollars. Since most of the power supplies after 2002 are energy star compliant it desn't cost much at all. Just remember to keep your monitor turned off if your not there, especially if it's and LCD as they have a lifespan measured in hours used.

I might try shutting off my monitor, which is a 19" LCD, and leaving the computer on for a change. My son keeps telling me it's hard on them to turn them off and on. I've never had anyone tell me WHY though. I can't see how.

Pale Rider
06-19-2007, 01:13 PM
Performing a hard reboot (turning off power to the system) is a good idea once in a while just to allow the OS to reset its memory system. But turning it off and leaving it off for more than 30 minutes (general rule) will produce thermal wear and tear on the circuitry which can shorten the life of the components.

That 30 minutes is a general rule I use to compensate for cases with poor airflow/ventilation and dirty innards. New computers in well-ventilated areas which are opened and cleaned regularly will tend to need much less time to reach cool-down, usually 5-10 minutes maximum.

Thermal wear... now that I can understand. I do have a degree in Electrical Engineering.

nevadamedic
06-19-2007, 01:14 PM
I might try shutting off my monitor, which is a 19" LCD, and leaving the computer on for a change. My son keeps telling me it's hard on them to turn them off and on. I've never had anyone tell me WHY though. I can't see how.

It's not hard on them, it''s just most people dont want to wait for it to boot up. Anytime you leave the computer even if its for a matter of minutes turn your LCD monitor off. I also really reccommend you plug it in a monster power bar, you can get the cheap ones at Best Buy for around $12.00. If you get into the higher ones they actually have a filter that cleans the power that goes in. I use that on my tv, it stops the static you see when you turn on appliances or any other interfearance. I know poeple who use that on their LCD monitor's as well.

Pale Rider
06-19-2007, 01:14 PM
Mine runs 24x7x365 (and yes, it's Windows XP Pro for your Linux users out there). I've had very little downtime that wasn't by my own choice (storms and the like I disconnect it). And this computer has been running since ~2001 in its current configuration.

So if I leave it on, I guess it's a good thing I have Zonealarm then, to lock out all internet access because I have cable, for when it's just sitting.... right?

Pale Rider
06-19-2007, 01:18 PM
It's not hard on them, it''s just most people dont want to wait for it to boot up. Anytime you leave the computer even if its for a matter of minutes turn your LCD monitor off. I also really reccommend you plug it in a monster power bar, you can get the cheap ones at Best Buy for around $12.00. If you get into the higher ones they actually have a filter that cleans the power that goes in. I use that on my tv, it stops the static you see when you turn on appliances or any other interfearance. I know poeple who use that on their LCD monitor's as well.

I'd never plug a computer into anything but a surge protector. And I have my HDTV and surround system plugged into a Panamax 1000 line conditioner. It's warrantied for life, and guarantees to protect anything plugged into it for up to a million dollars.

nevadamedic
06-19-2007, 01:23 PM
I'd never plug a computer into anything but a surge protector. And I have my HDTV and surround system plugged into a Panamax 1000 line conditioner. It's warrantied for life, and guarantees to protect anything plugged into it for up to a million dollars.

Panamax is just as good as Monster as long as they have the filter.

CockySOB
06-19-2007, 01:34 PM
Do you have any idea what it costs you as far as electricity to leave it as opposed to turning it off?

I figure it costs me around US$20-US$35 per month to keep the computer running 24x7 with both monitor and computer having a power-saver mode which consumes much less than full power.

Figure that a normal computer from a couple years back consumes around 330 Watts for 30 days at 24 hours per day. That's 237.6 kW hours of electricity at whatever your monthly rate is. The co-op I am part of uses a sliding scale based on overall load and seasonal expectations. But if your computer is set to enter a reduced power state (most are) then for at least 1/3 to 1/2 of that time, your computer is drawing only a fraction of what the full-time load would be (close to 1/2 the normal usage).

So lets say a full-time load for my computer is 240 kWh per month. If I leave it in automatic reduced power mode and it enters that mode 1/2 of the time I would be using:
240 kWh * 1/2 monthly hours = 120 kWh for the full-load usage
240 kWh * 1/2 monthly hours * 1/2 load = 60 kWh for reduced load usage

Grand total = 180 kWh per month for a computer left on 24x7 but using a reduced power state when left alone for more than 10 minutes. My cost on that right now is around US$20. During the school year, my home systems only see about 4 hours per day of heavy usage, to the number drops considerably as my systems are generally on reduced power consumption.

Hope that helps answer your question.

CockySOB
06-19-2007, 01:44 PM
So if I leave it on, I guess it's a good thing I have Zonealarm then, to lock out all internet access because I have cable, for when it's just sitting.... right?

Yup. Zonealarm is one helluva firewall. Personally I just use a router appliance as my first line of defense, and another firewall on my PC as the second line of defense. Between the two, I've never gotten hacked. I also use AVG Free Edition on my home computer and recommend it as one of the best anti-virus applications around. Also, SpywareBlaster from Javacoolsoftware.com and Search & Destroy from safer-networking.net to help keep the other malware at bay.

A good, quick fix for cable users is to put a little wired router between their cable modem and the computers. The little router application can absorb the hit of the attempted hacks which occur on every cable network, allowing your computer's firewall to focus on only the stuff that makes it past the first line of defense. Personally, I'd grab something like the little Network Everywhere 4-port router from Wal-Mart or the like unless you have specific gaming needs in which I'd probably go with the much more expensive Dlink gaming routers.

Pale Rider
06-19-2007, 01:44 PM
I figure it costs me around US$20-US$35 per month to keep the computer running 24x7 with both monitor and computer having a power-saver mode which consumes much less than full power.

Figure that a normal computer from a couple years back consumes around 330 Watts for 30 days at 24 hours per day. That's 237.6 kW hours of electricity at whatever your monthly rate is. The co-op I am part of uses a sliding scale based on overall load and seasonal expectations. But if your computer is set to enter a reduced power state (most are) then for at least 1/3 to 1/2 of that time, your computer is drawing only a fraction of what the full-time load would be (close to 1/2 the normal usage).

So lets say a full-time load for my computer is 240 kWh per month. If I leave it in automatic reduced power mode and it enters that mode 1/2 of the time I would be using:
240 kWh * 1/2 monthly hours = 120 kWh for the full-load usage
240 kWh * 1/2 monthly hours * 1/2 load = 60 kWh for reduced load usage

Grand total = 180 kWh per month for a computer left on 24x7 but using a reduced power state when left alone for more than 10 minutes. My cost on that right now is around US$20. During the school year, my home systems only see about 4 hours per day of heavy usage, to the number drops considerably as my systems are generally on reduced power consumption.

Hope that helps answer your question.

It sure does... and then some.

I've tried setting my computer to "sleep," or "hibernate," only to find the thing full on half the time. It would hibernate, and then next time I look at it, the monitors back on. Some program would wake it up, so I gave up on that.

So, I think I'm going to just turn my screen saver off so that program doesn't run, and when I get up from my computer, I'll just lock out all internet access with the Zone Alarm, and shut the monitor off.

CockySOB
06-19-2007, 01:51 PM
It sure does... and then some.

I've tried setting my computer to "sleep," or "hibernate," only to find the thing full on half the time. It would hibernate, and then next time I look at it, the monitors back on. Some program would wake it up, so I gave up on that.

So, I think I'm going to just turn my screen saver off so that program doesn't run, and when I get up from my computer, I'll just lock out all internet access with the Zone Alarm, and shut the monitor off.

The motherboard will have a setting to enable power-saving mode for the hard drives, the video-output and the CPU. I usually turn off the hard drive power down, set the video-out to 10 minutes, and the CPU to 20 minutes. The problem is that Windows XP likes to auto-fire a lot of processes which can wake up your monitor, hard drives and CPU despite your best efforts. It really takes someone who can sit down and look over your system to actually get all the settings optimized, and even then there is a good chance that one or two setting could get overlooked.

BTW, I leave mine on 24x7 so that maintenance tasks like hard drive optimization, updates and anti-virus scans can all take place while I sleep. That way my system is primed for best performance when I need to use it. This means that my usage overall is probably closer to 320 kWh per month which would be around US$40 per month even with my optimizations to the power settings.

jackass
06-19-2007, 02:35 PM
I turn my computers off every night...and have done so for 10 years. NEver had a problem with any of them from "thermal wear" :lame2:

Hagbard Celine
06-19-2007, 02:46 PM
How do you keep your computer from slowing down? I delete my temporary internet files, defrag, clean-up the hard drive, run spybot/adaware programs--the works...and yet all my computers eventually begin to slow down after a while. Even my work computer. Especially my girlfriend's computer. How can you reverse or treat this condition?

nevadamedic
06-19-2007, 03:29 PM
How do you keep your computer from slowing down? I delete my temporary internet files, defrag, clean-up the hard drive, run spybot/adaware programs--the works...and yet all my computers eventually begin to slow down after a while. Even my work computer. Especially my girlfriend's computer. How can you reverse or treat this condition?

Quit downloading porn.:laugh2:

Hagbard Celine
06-19-2007, 03:39 PM
Quit downloading porn.:laugh2:

Haha. I tried to pos-rep you for this but I couldn't. Seriously though, how can I clean up my girlfriend's computer? It's slower than slow.

Kathianne
06-19-2007, 03:41 PM
Quit downloading porn.:laugh2:

I constantly had that problem with PC's. Not so with the Mac I bought out of pique with PC.

Hagbard Celine
06-19-2007, 03:50 PM
I constantly had that problem with PC's. Not so with the Mac I bought out of pique with PC.

So you recommend a mac? I'm seriously considering getting one. I'm tired of Bill Gates' bs.

Kathianne
06-19-2007, 03:58 PM
So you recommend a mac? I'm seriously considering getting one. I'm tired of Bill Gates' bs.

I had 5 pc's between 1995-2004, that's just about 1 every two years. My first was Compaq, probably the best-lasted the longest. I also owned Dell, Gateway, and HP.

The first cost over $5k, the Dell about 3k. I bought the G5 when the Dell started the slowdown, then froze. I've yet to like the mouse, but that is my only complaint.

Mr. P
06-19-2007, 04:13 PM
Slow puter? Hmmmm

I've seen anti virus programs slow them way down, Norton in particular.
Programs that boot on start.
Temp files.
HD Fragments.
Tracking cookies.

jackass
06-19-2007, 06:47 PM
Back it up and restore it to original of you have the cd's. They are also sometimes loaded on a seperate part of the hd.

nevadamedic
06-23-2007, 01:19 AM
.... leave your computer on, or turn it off?

I've heard both, and I've always turned mine off. But what does everybody else do, and why?

And if you leave it on, how much electricity does that eat in a month?

Here is an article on this exact issue.

http://tech.yahoo.com/blog/null/14848

diuretic
06-23-2007, 04:42 AM
If you're cheesed off with Windows then give a Linux distro a try. The friendliest is Ubuntu. You can run it off a live cd which means you can try it without installing it. If you want to install it you can dual-boot with Windows quite easily. Ubuntu is based on Debian which is a very stable distribution.

On the XP Pro I use Alwil Avast! as the anti-virus programme, it's free for home use and automatic updates come in a couple of times a day. It's not intrusive and I don't see a slowing on the machine. I also use Sygate personal firewall (free again) and that also doesn't seem to interfere.

I also turn the computer off if I'm going out or going to sleep.

Yurt
06-24-2007, 06:36 PM
Haha. I tried to pos-rep you for this but I couldn't. Seriously though, how can I clean up my girlfriend's computer? It's slower than slow.

how much memory she have? memory makes a huge diff.

how many background programs are running?

in the run section, type "msconfig" you can see most stuff from there. not all, but enough to allow you to disable most that slow you down.

shattered
06-24-2007, 06:39 PM
.... leave your computer on, or turn it off?

I've heard both, and I've always turned mine off. But what does everybody else do, and why?

And if you leave it on, how much electricity does that eat in a month?

On. 24/7. Period.

Doesn't eat much electricity at all.. There's 4 computers running, air, lights, appliances, etc.. and electric/gas combined is about $130 a month.

Pale Rider
07-30-2007, 04:53 PM
The motherboard will have a setting to enable power-saving mode for the hard drives, the video-output and the CPU. I usually turn off the hard drive power down, set the video-out to 10 minutes, and the CPU to 20 minutes. The problem is that Windows XP likes to auto-fire a lot of processes which can wake up your monitor, hard drives and CPU despite your best efforts. It really takes someone who can sit down and look over your system to actually get all the settings optimized, and even then there is a good chance that one or two setting could get overlooked.

BTW, I leave mine on 24x7 so that maintenance tasks like hard drive optimization, updates and anti-virus scans can all take place while I sleep. That way my system is primed for best performance when I need to use it. This means that my usage overall is probably closer to 320 kWh per month which would be around US$40 per month even with my optimizations to the power settings.

I think I'll try the video, 10 mins and CPU 20 mins thing. Can't hurt.

Sitarro
07-30-2007, 05:00 PM
I had 5 pc's between 1995-2004, that's just about 1 every two years. My first was Compaq, probably the best-lasted the longest. I also owned Dell, Gateway, and HP.

The first cost over $5k, the Dell about 3k. I bought the G5 when the Dell started the slowdown, then froze. I've yet to like the mouse, but that is my only complaint.

Kathianne,

There is a new super mouse by Apple with a scroll ball on top. you can scroll it up or down and right or left. There is also plenty of third party mice. I use a cordless logitech keyboard and mouse.

Kathianne
07-30-2007, 05:33 PM
Kathianne,

There is a new super mouse by Apple with a scroll ball on top. you can scroll it up or down and right or left. There is also plenty of third party mice. I use a cordless logitech keyboard and mouse.

I have it, the scroll ball no longer works. The mouse sucks.

Mr. P
07-30-2007, 06:09 PM
I have it, the scroll ball no longer works. The mouse sucks.

Clean the mouse balls! :laugh2:

No really, take the ball out and clean the dirt off the rollers.

Kathianne
07-30-2007, 06:16 PM
Clean the mouse balls! :laugh2:

No really, take the ball out and clean the dirt off the rollers.

There's nothing to take 'out.' It's a red light type of deal.

Mr. P
07-30-2007, 06:36 PM
There's nothing to take 'out.' It's a red light type of deal.

Batteries?

Kathianne
07-30-2007, 07:10 PM
Batteries?

Nope, though at first I thought you were being rude. LOL! Goes right into keyboard, but there is no 'ball'. Just a led type of light.

Mr. P
07-30-2007, 07:38 PM
Nope, though at first I thought you were being rude. LOL! Goes right into keyboard, but there is no 'ball'. Just a led type of light.

:laugh2: I wasn't being rude...I've never had one like that. Wish I could help..sorry.

glockmail
07-30-2007, 07:58 PM
Do you have any idea what it costs you as far as electricity to leave it as opposed to turning it off?
I don't. But if you look at the rating of the power supply it would give you a clue. Then you have to guess at the avearage power factor, probably in the 25% to 33% range. My guess is that an average desktop machine uses about 50-75 watts. A large CRT monitor probably uses about 250.

glockmail
07-30-2007, 08:00 PM
Thermal wear... now that I can understand. I do have a degree in Electrical Engineering. Cool. Mine's in Civil.

Kathianne
07-30-2007, 08:03 PM
:laugh2: I wasn't being rude...I did realize that, which is why I laughed! Thanks for trying, if the mouse is my biggest problem for a few years, I'll be happy!

Pale Rider
07-30-2007, 10:17 PM
Cool. Mine's in Civil.

I did do the monitor off in 15 mins, CPU off in 20 mins, and standby at 30 mins in my power options. Seems to be working.

Mr. P
07-30-2007, 10:28 PM
I did do the monitor off in 15 mins, CPU off in 20 mins, and standby at 30 mins in my power options. Seems to be working.

I do that too..then at the end of my day,, total shut down.
Never had any problems.

glockmail
07-31-2007, 08:58 AM
I did do the monitor off in 15 mins, CPU off in 20 mins, and standby at 30 mins in my power options. Seems to be working.
Are you using your EE degree?

glockmail
07-31-2007, 08:59 AM
I do that too..then at the end of my day,, total shut down.
Never had any problems.


I usually shut down my brain at the end of the day with a double manhattan or martini.

Mr. P
07-31-2007, 09:06 AM
I usually shut down my brain at the end of the day with a double manhattan or martini.

I haven't had a manhattan in forever..

glockmail
07-31-2007, 09:24 AM
I haven't had a manhattan in forever.. I ran out of sweet vermouth and had to resort to plain whiskey last night. That stuff always give me the shivers, just like the first time, when I was about 13.