Just wondering. Do you shut down your computer every night or leave it on? Is there a right way and a wrong way? Or one way which is better on your computer?

I was just curious about this.

By Reds9298 on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - 10:13 am:

Yes we do. I also can't stand night mode, but a lot of people use it. I just go to 'shut down' and 'turn off computer'.

By Marcia on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - 10:23 am:

I just turn off the monitor.

By Dawnk777 on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - 10:26 am:

No, we usually leave our computers running all the time.

By Kate on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - 10:28 am:

Yes, but I've often wondered if it's necessary. Actually, with OUR computer, it is as it's the NOISIEST computer in the world. Does anyone else have this issue?? My husband has taken it apart numerous times and stuffed fabric in empty spots to try and stop it from rattling and such but to no avail. It's a Dell and I refuse to buy another Dell because of this. We have an old Micron that is deathly quiet. We rarely use it as it's old and slow but when we do it's amazing how silent it is.

By Trina~moderator on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - 10:32 am:

Ditto Dawn.

By Jackie on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - 10:40 am:

no, ours are always on.

By Tonya on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - 10:42 am:

Always off.

By Cocoabutter on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - 10:51 am:

Our is mostly on. The repeated motions of shutting it off then turning it on every day can wear out the moving parts in the hard drive. Once that goes, you've lost everything.

Another reason why it is important to back up your hard drive. Getting an external hard drive to store your info on would be the easiest. They run about $100.

By Breann on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - 10:58 am:

Ours goes into night mode, I guess. It looks/sounds like it is shut down, but when we push the power button to turn it on in the morning, it brings up the same stuff that was left on the screen the night before.

Our other computer didn't do this, and we manually shut it down every night.

BTW, we bought an external hard drive from radio shack for under $50, just in case anyone is looking for a deal

By Sunny on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - 11:00 am:

We just turn off the monitor.

By Tripletmom on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - 11:18 am:

Always on.

By Kaye on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - 11:34 am:

Our is always on, it goes to sleep after a period of inactivity. My hubby does a lot of it stuff and was told your computer wears out faster if you turn it off all the time.

Kate, is your computer getting enough air? Typically the noise is from the fan trying to cool it off. If you have it inside a computer desk, you need to leave the cabinet open, and then I would go and remove the fabric from the inside. If you want to test the theory before making changes, take a fan and point it to your computer and see if that will cool it off enough to let the fan stop running.

We also have a dell, it has been more sensitive to not having air flow than other computers, we can't leave it in the cabinet like the others.

By Debbie on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - 12:30 pm:

I turn mine off. My computer is in our study, which is right off our bedroom. It hums at night if I leave it on, and the noise bugs me.

I never thought about it wearing out by turning it off and on. I might have to reconsider what I am doing.

By Colette on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - 02:29 pm:

always on

By Tarable on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - 03:47 pm:

We turn ours off but they make the room really hot since there is 2 computers in there.

By Trina~moderator on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - 04:12 pm:

We have four computers in our home office. The only time it gets hot in there is if the two doors are closed.

My DH works in IT, and he said it's best to leave them on. They go into hibernation mode when not used for awhile. We have all our automatic updates scheduled while we sleep at night. The only time we shut them down is if we're going away on vacation.

By Luvn29 on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - 04:39 pm:

Thanks guys! I've always turned mine off, but I thought I remembered hearing that it was better on them not to turn them on and off all the time. Think I'll probably start leaving it on.

I have a Micron and LOVE it! It is absolutely quiet...makes no noise at all and never feels hot.

By Cybermommyx4 on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - 05:57 pm:

Always on except when we're on vacation or having a thunder/lightning storm

By Dawnk777 on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - 06:33 pm:

Oh yeah, we are pretty fanatical about turning them off during storms and we do turn them off, when we are on vacation.

My antivirus updates and scans during the night.

By Hol on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - 06:47 pm:

I used to when I had dial up. However, now we have broadband, so I leave it on. I log it off, but I don't TURN IT OFF. I mostly log off because I don't want the kids jumping on it without permission. They don't have the administrator password, so they can't use it without permission. Shawn has his own laptop, but Mike has been caught going to a few sites that I didn't approve of.

My updates run in the night, too. I used to be afraid if I didn't turn it off, it would be more suseptible to a virus, but they tell me no. I DO turn my computer off at work, tho, when I leave. Others have access to our office space at night. Our work computers are password protected, too.

By Hol on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - 06:49 pm:

I have a Gateway and they don't get very hot at all.

By Ginny~moderator on Thursday, January 25, 2007 - 05:45 am:

If you do leave your computer on, do like Hol and log off your internet connection when you are not using the internet. With all those nasty people out there who try to turn your computer into a spambot, better to not have the internet connection active if you are not using it.

By Trina~moderator on Thursday, January 25, 2007 - 07:21 am:

Ginny, with a cable ISP you can't "log off" the Internet. That's why a firewall and good anti-virus software with automatic updates is essential. Our computers each require a password to log on and use the computer, but that has nothing to do with the Internet connection.

By Bobbie~moderatr on Thursday, January 25, 2007 - 07:32 am:

It sounds like the fan to me too... My mom and I had the same issue but both with HP. Sounds like it is about to take off out of the machine, loud hum/rattle. In mom's case the fan burnt out after a time of it going on. She has one of those cabinets that completely closes up. The air in the cabinet would get hot and the fan was working harder to try to cool down the unit. In my case, a good cleaning cleared mine up. I am a bit concerned about the fabric. Not saying dh was wrong to do it but if it is the fan, it is keeping things hotter in there and I am thinking possible fire hazard.

We are on all the time.. My dad works with computers and he said the same things above. Basically all the on and off shortens the life of the computer. We go onto a clock screen saver after inactivity.

By Cocoabutter on Thursday, January 25, 2007 - 07:43 am:

To log off the high-speed internet connection (WinXP):

Start>settings>control panel>network and internet connections>network connections>local area connection

click "disable"

Or instead of clicking on the icon for local area connection you could right click on the icon and click enable or disable.

This disables the connection between your computer and the modem. To reconnect, follow the above steps. When you click on the local area connection icon, it should automatically enable the connection.

I moved the icon to my desktop for easier access.

By Trina~moderator on Thursday, January 25, 2007 - 09:11 am:

Cocoabutter, I stand corrected. LOL! However, since our computers are networked it's probably not that simple. I suppose we could just shut off the modem, but I'll have to discuss this with DH. There must be a reason he doesn't want to do this, or we would be doing it. Does that make sense?! LOL!

By Unschoolmom on Thursday, January 25, 2007 - 09:38 am:

Kate - Ditto on what the others said about the fan. You can get it replaced cheaply at any computer store if you want a quieter model. You husbands fix may be exacerbating the problem by limiting airflow that the computer needs to cool. I'd also be concerned about a fire hazard as it gets very hot in a case sometimes.

I leave mine on all the time. Night is when my virus scans and updates run and I'm usually downloading something on P2P (legal here in Canada for the meantime).

By Unschoolmom on Thursday, January 25, 2007 - 09:39 am:

Forgot to mention that I do shut off the moniter. That's the real energy hog in a computer setup.

By Mrsheidi on Thursday, January 25, 2007 - 02:08 pm:

We put it in "Hibernation" mode so it saves energy, not so hot, and starts up right away the next morning. Just click on the "Start" button like usual and "Shut down the computer" then press the shift button so the standby turns into the word "hibernation".

By Cocoabutter on Thursday, January 25, 2007 - 03:01 pm:

No problem, Trina! I think that the reason high-speed internet is usually thought of as an "always on" connection is because there is no process for dialing up. Hook it up, plug it in, and you're there. There really is no reason why the connection has to be enabled at all times. (And I don't have a network at home- just the one computer.)

I am like Ginny, tho. I don't like it always on when I am not using it. I disable it at night and when I am not around. If I am not using the internet and it's connected, I feel like I am leaving my purse in the shopping cart at the store.

However, I have heard some say that it's best to leave it on all night long because there are always new internet threats out there and the internet security companies are always working to block the threats. So if your computer is connected to the internet all the time, your internet security software will automatically download a security update as soon as it is available.

It's all about personal preference, I guess.

By Cocoabutter on Thursday, January 25, 2007 - 03:06 pm:

Oh, and one more thing about leaving your computer on all the time is to restart it once every 3-4 days to clear out the RAM.

By Kate on Thursday, January 25, 2007 - 04:16 pm:

Thanks to all who have advised me on my NOISY computer. It does not sit in a cabinet, it is out in the open room. The noise varies depending on its mood. I can squeeze the harddrive between my hands and it quiets right down as long as I hold it. I assume this outside case is a major part of the problem. I've been told it's just dust particles that get in and mess up the fan and such. I was wrong about the fabric....it SITS on fabric as we have hardwoods, but it's actually paper towel wads stuffed in there. Probably no difference fire wise.... I'll talk to DH again about this very very frustrating issue!! It sounds like a jet plane taking off...

By Cocoabutter on Thursday, January 25, 2007 - 04:24 pm:

Kate, how long has it been doing this?

Could be wearing out- time for a new hard drive?

When hard drives being to fail, they get noisy.