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LEAVE MY COMPUTER ON ALL THE TIME???
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One of the most often computer question or point of discussion I'm asked is whether it's better to leave a computer always on or turn it off. The majority of opinion, as reported by a PC World? online article, is TURN IT OFF!!!
Computers have 3 major enemies: HEAT, DUST, and ELECTROSTATIC CHARGE.
Essentially, your computer is a giant dust magnet. There are fans running inside the computer whose sole purpose is to pull in air from outside the computer, and circulate it around the components inside the computer to keep them operating within their manufacturer's suggested thermal range (keep 'em cool).
Whatever dust, dirt particles, animal fur, etc., that just happens to be tagging along for a ride with the airflow may get sucked into the computer. The muck may be ejected by an outflowing case fan, but more often than not, it gets stuck to some component inside the computer case.
In the case of CPU cooling apparati, this is NOT good. The particulate matter can get wedged within the cooling vanes of the heat sink that sits on top of the computer processor (the main brain of the computer), and act as an insulator, keeping the heat in, interfering with the dissipation of heat from the processor. It also can gunk up the cooling fans inside your computer, causing them to spin more slowly than they should, again lessening the dissipation of heat.
Turning off the computer also helps the RAM (Random Access Memory) in the computer. The RAM is considered VOLATILE MEMORY, which means it holds it's contents only as long as there is power in the system. When the computer is shut down, any data held in the RAM dissipates. This is good because sometimes some bad data gets stuck in the RAM, which causes the computer to "misbehave". Over 90% of a computer's misbehavior can often be resolved by simply rebooting the computer.
It's also more "green" to turn your computer off. Regardless of how energy efficient your computer's manufacturer may claim your computer is, the computer still consumes a significant amount of electricity, even in "sleep" or "hibernation" modes. Even in hibernation, the computer is consuming 5-10 watts of electricity. That may not seem like much, but it adds up over a year.
Monitors are even greater electricity hogs. Some people think when the screensaver is running on the monitor, it's using less power, which is incorrect. The monitor is using EXACTLY the same amount of power. All a screensaver provides is a series of moving images aimed at protecting the screen from having an image "burned" into it.
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ALWAYS, AS IN EVERY TIME???
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Now I don't mean you have to turn off your computer and monitor every time you walk away for your workstation. But if you're not planning on using your computer for 7-8 hours, then TURN IT OFF.
If you're going to be away from your computer for only a little while, then turning your computer off and on multiple times throughout the day may actually have an ADVERSE effect on the PC. The initial power surge to start a computer is substantial, since your computer has to distribute power to start the cooling fans spinning, powering up any lights on the computer, and especially spinning up the disks inside the computer's hard drive (as a side note, power problems are the cause of the most damage to a hard drive, but that's another topic for another newsletter...)
The most common exception to turning off your computer and monitor is if the computer is acting as a server, or backup unit, or main distribution computer in a network. Then, of course, you need to leave the computer on for it to do its work.
But for most individual workstations or home use computers, it is better to TURN IT OFF. How much money is saved over a year's time is dependent on the cost of electricity for a particular area. But regardless of the cost of electricity being used, shutting your computer down gives your computer a chance to cool off and "rest" before the next day's computing demands.
I always tell my customers the same thing when asked this question: "You wouldn't leave your CAR on all the time, would you (except for some cases of diesel engines in cold climates, but that's also another topic for discussion...)?".
Turning off a computer and monitor when not in use WILL extend the life of the product, save you $$$ on your electric bill, and make you AND your computer much happier in the long run.
Good Computing Everybody!
DAVID P. (that's my picture under Duane's. Cute, huh?)
GO PACK GO! 
? TM
