Should a computer be left on?

I have owned computers for more than 15 years, and have always turned them off and not leave them on overnight. I've not encountered any problem about wear and tear due to this. Besides, computer technology evolves so fast the useful lifetime of a PC, technologically speaking, is no more than 3 to 4 years. So it is more likely you will change or upgrade the PC before it is worn out. Besides, turning off the PC overnight or when not used for extended hours saves your electrical bills.

I used to always turn mine off, but now I leave it on and just turn the screen off. The whole thing only gets shut down if there is a thunder storm.

I have owned computers for more than 5 years, and have always turned them off and not leave them on overnight. I've not encountered any problem about wear and tear due to this. Besides, computer technology evolves so fast the useful lifetime of a PC, technologically speaking, is no more than 3 to 4 years. So it is more likely you will change or upgrade the PC before it is worn out. Besides, turning off the PC overnight or when not used for extended hours saves your electrical bills. And also computer parts can generally get damaged only due to moisture and also due to heat. So more running means more heat. So more prob. For the CPU.

It depends on the job of each part. In a computer, of course there is more impactive wear on the switch from using it more, but this wear is minimal. As far as the innards are concerned, solid-state components of halfway decent quality are not going to wear out anytime soon, no matter how much you use your machine. However, there are moving parts to consider. The cooling fans are one, although I rarely ever see one go out. But the biggie is your hard drive. Even the best hard drives will fail eventually, and need to be replaced. The longer your computer stays on, the more work the hard drive performs, the faster the spindle and arm of the read/write heads will wear out. That said, my computer actually is on 24/7. But I use software called Acronis True Image to create backup images of my hard drive, which I then burn to DVDs for long-term storage. Even if my hard drive should go out suddenly, without so much as one SMART failure warning, all I have to do is go buy a new one, swap and pop, format the new drive, load up the image archive, and voila! I'm right back up and running. :)

I don't think there is much difference in the life of the processor if we turn the computer on and off daily. But if we keep it on always, the power consumption increases very much. With all the drive across the world to reduce power consumption and global warming, it is good to turn off the machines and other gadgets when not in use.

That is not true, turning it on and off does not make your computer wear out faster, constantly restarting it every 5 min or something like that would though. Turning it of is a much better option to save electricity and also, after installing programs, you usually need to restart your computer for the effects to take place anyways. Furthermore, isn't it annoying to have the computer fans spinning all night long making a strange noise when you try to sleep? Also, if you do not have a decent computer fan, your CPU may overheat in hot days of summer

The way I understand it is it takes more energy to turn it on and off than to leave it on. If it is a laptop you should turn it on and off. If it is a PC i would recommend leaving it on unless you need to restart it, or if you wont be using it for a period of time like a day or more.

I don't think turning your computer on and off will wear it out any faster. You are more likely to outgrow your computer/want a new one than you are to wear it out. Turning your computer off will, however, save a lot of electricity. Also it should be unplugged or turned off at the power strip level. Things like computers that are turned off still suck "phantom" energy even when turned off. It's a dirty little secret that the power companies don't want you to know. Anything that has a black box shaped object at the end of the cord (like your microwave) is one of the culprits to suck phantom power, thus driving up your electric bill.

well if i had one like yours my friend then i won't think to save electricity,but i haven't got any in here and i turn mine off so it would last till i go back home,well if i can find it under all that dust,are you still lookin good?

I think it is better to switch it off when you are not using it. You are not only saving electricity this way, but also helping the Earth to reduce global warming. Further, the harder you work your computer, the sooner it will break down. If you have deep pockets, I guess the world is your oasis.

I leave mine on all the time. It goes to energy saver after 10 minutes and i dont think it really effects the electric bill that much. But i fear too because mine has automatic updates and downloads from the inter as it is alway connected. So i have all the best firewall programs and anti virus progemas that i can becasue it is online all the time. Plus i have it set on a scheudule to scan every so often and all the other maintenence things so if i happen to turn it off the night that it is scheduled then i have to wait for it to complete the next day and it seems to take forever. I dont know about it wearing out faster if left on all the time or wearing out faster if you turn it on and off every night. I dont think that either would really make a difference, it all has to do with what you download and get into on the interent, or if someone sends you something that you dont want and your defenders done catch it.

This is a really interesting topic. It seems leaving the computer on all the time helps some of the chips on the motherboard from creeping as a result of alternate heating and cooling of the system. On the other hand, it consumes more electricity in doing this. But I also heard computers consume little electricity. Whatever the case, I usually leave this computer on because it takes it a very long time to boot.

I personally leave my computer on for quite a long time. I'm not sure if it effects the computer or not, but I leave it on nonetheless. I don't think it's been off for more than ten minutes for at least two months.

At the begining, i used to turn of my computer every night before i sleep, but after upgrading the DSL speed, i began to leave the computer on without turning it of at all, i did a bit of research and found out the computer doesn't use that much of electricity. It all depends on your character if you like to leave the computer on then leave it, you don't then don't.

We don't turn off our computer. Our computer is on 24/7. Most of the time I just turn off the screen but that's all about it. I don't know. That is my family and friends do so I do it too. I just grow up with it so I bet there's nothing wrong not turning off the puter. I've heard that it is actually good not to turn off the computer. I'm not sure.

It's like one of those situations of d---ed if we do, d---ed if we don't. Computers are a mega pain in the backside no matter which way one looks at it. Either method consumes a considerable amount of electricity, even if one is lucky enough to have the sleep function on their's. I always turn mine off at night or when not in use these days. I tried an experiment once, where I left the computer on for a whole month, with exception of turning off the monitor. (In my area monitors are expensive to replace no matter where one looks.) When the electric bill came it was nearly $100.00. I than spent a month using my computer as I normally do, with turning everything off when it was not in use. When I got my electric bill it was a considerable $40 or more less than the previous months. So at this point I don't care what anyone tells me my computer and any other electronic equipment gets shut off when it is not being used or really paid that much attention to.

I don't think so. If I may share, there is a policy here in our office, enjoining all of its employees to always turn off all electronic appliances, especially the computer units, before going home at the end of the day. And also, during lunch breaks, we are encouraged to turn off the screen of our computers when we have our lunch outside the office or when they are not in use. I believe the comparison isn't proper, because if the car is turned on the whole night through, it is very likely that the fuel / gasoline will be used totally, and this is the only element (I guess) which will be consumed by the car. But in the case of computers, it is plugged in directly and electricity is consumed. We all know that this could not be consumed for just overnight. So, I think there is no benefit to the computer like prolonging its life if we turn it on the whole night.

no i dont think we should turn the computer on while sleeping , dunno something about saving electricity but it wont definitely wear out, it will get more rest i.e its components which are running over the day will get some cool down and this will avoid over heating etc.

i guess, you should turn it off, becuase its a waste of energy when you just leave it on and not using it. in that way you can help reduce the socalled global warming... you may not feel the effect now but dont wait that the nature will turn on us. so help conserve energy...

I heard once from an old school tech-geek that if you turn off and on a computer that the silicone (or metal) will recrystallize after heating up and cooling down. Did you ever pop open your computer and feel the heatsink? it gets pretty hot (sometimes even up to ~60C) so that makes it half believable. Who knows if this is just a myth but I think we should all turn off our computers to save on energy (¿and the environment?)