Turning off your computer?

I put up option one as it is the closest to my routine. My notebook and the desktop I use for most everything get shutdown overnight once a week Normal nights I put both into hibernation mode and both are set to go into sleep mode after 20 minutes or more of inactivity; the screens go dark after 5 minutes. I also have another desktop computer, but it is strictly used for media viewing and is only on while doing that.

[Love.Forever.]

Most of the time I do turn it off when I'm not using it or I just put it to sleep then push a button to wake it up.

[wodin]

I chose the closest to my usage, but I really needed ‘I never turn off my computer. It's on 24/7 especially when I leave the house for a few days.’

My computer not only runs my house, but allows me to have remote access to view status of doors/motion sensors/smoke detectors and turn things on and off it also shows me video of what’s going on. It is also my private cloud, giving me access to my library as well as other files that I might occasionally need.

[74Cuda]

I chose number 1. I've been doing it that way for years and don't see any reason to change now. If it blows up I'll get another. There's nothing all that valuable on here anyway.

[Ajax]

I've kept my computer running 24/7 for 3.5 years so far and it still runs like a champ. Occasionally I will let it go to sleep mode overnight, but those are very rare occurrences.

The main thing I do is have my monitors turn off after 10 minutes rather than use a screensaver. That seems to save a ton of energy / heat, since I'm using dual 24 inch monitors.

[Nyssa]

My PC stays on unless:

1. I'm away for more than a day.
2. The power is out.

[wannabee]

Well here's something to consider. In my studio I had 5 Macs, 2 PCs and an assortment of peripherals. The only computer to survive the explosion and subsequent smoke damage was the old Bondi Blue iMac. It doesn't have a fan. Everything that had a fan was smoke damaged and destroyed because everything was turned on.

The insurance replaced the equipment. I still leave mine on all the time.

Edit: This was back in 2003

[cromag]

I have an old IBM Thinkcentre PC that runs Windows XP. I still have two programs that I need to run that have no equivalent on an alternative OS. I turn it on for a few hours in the evening. It's coming up on 9 years old and I'm (slowly) putting together a home-built replacement.

But I can do almost everything I need with Linux. During the day when I need to use the internet, check email, use a word processor or spreadsheet I turn on my netbook with Ubuntu. It boots up in about 90 seconds, vs. almost 10 minutes for the Windows desktop (old hardware, anti-virus and anti-malware scanners, etc., etc.)

The replacement desktop will dual boot Linux and Windows 7. But I anticipate I will still use the netbook most of the time, and then I'll mostly use Linux on the desktop.

[Latinandgreek]

I turn my laptop completely off perhaps 2 times a week, before going to bed. I voted for number 1, as I felt that it was the closest to my usage.

[RolandD]

I leave my desktop on all the time, unless the house will be empty for three or four days or the power goes out.

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

I selected the second option, but I need to clarify - I only turn it off at night because of the indicator lights, as my main desktop computer is in the room where I sleep. If not for that, I'd leave it on and probably reboot about once a week.

My laptops also get turned on in the morning and stay on until I go to bed.

It's one of my pet peeves, I wonder why makers of casings think you need a reading light.

However, the one day I had my tablet I noticed that I hardly used my PC that day because I can do most of the things I do on my pc on the tablet. I expect that when I get my replacement tablet I will only switch my desktop on when I either want to play a game or when I plan to work on it for a longer period of time (although my tablet comes with a keyboard dock so I'll have to see).

My notebook I mostly use for watching dvd's in bed at night so it only gets switched on when I get ready for bed and get switched off when I go to sleep (again, annoying LEDs). I also take it with me when I go house/pet sitting and I do switch it off when I go to be or when I leave the house mostly out of habit. I expect my tablet will also replace my notebook when I go house sitting for shorter periods of time.

[SilverBear]

Like a lot of folks who posted, we have more than 1 computer.
My portable lives next to my bed, and it gets powered up as needed. The same with my wife's netbook --which sleeps next to her end of the sofa.

The desktop behemoth runs on a Linux-based OS and is on almost all the time. EXCEPT when a storm is forecast. Then everything gets shut down, and the wire to the phone company gets unplugged from the back of the DSL modem. We have abrupt, sometimes quite violent electrical storms here, and I'm tired of replacing equipment. . .

BTW, wannabee: Any story that contains the line

The only computer to survive the explosion. . .

demands more detail! Give us the version that won't get you arrested.

[wannabee]

Originally Posted by SilverBear

BTW, wannabee: Any story that contains the line
demands more detail! Give us the version that won't get you arrested.

The official finding was that the fire was deliberately lit by person's unknown.
It's a bit long winded, but you did ask.

Spoiler:

I moved my design business into the Town Square Centre in a small Southern Highlands town with a population of only 8,000. It was a tranquil setting with a verandah overlooking the square. I shared the office with an advertising agency who boasted of their in-house design team whereas I boasted to my clients of our advertising contacts. This mutual arrangement worked quite well.
Working this peaceful life day in and day out was probably one of the best times of my life.

(note to self; do that again some time)

Then one day I heard a loud racket coming from the shared kitchen in the complex. Upon investigation I was confronted by a Lebanese fellow in the process of creating a hole down to the ground floor.
This bloke had leased the shop below and was going to open a Kebab shop down stairs and was creating access for an exhaust.

The hammering, drilling, bashing and mayhem continued daily for six months or more when one day he announced he was going to open his store the very next day. The exhaust did not have any fireproofing between the floors and my concerns to council resulted in a fire rated cavity enclosure before he was allowed to open for business. Although, he made about three attempts by making a wood surround which the council officer rejected. There was some bad blood between the two before the exhaust was signed off.

When I peered into his new shop to observe the results of six months of disruption and noise I was astonished at the grandeur of the fixtures and fittings.

When I commented that I thought he had over capatilised in the fit-out of the shop he response was "You'd be amazed how you can obtain good quality gear for a good price."

There were frequent visits to the premises by a local motorcycle club's heaviest members, follow up by the constabulary as well. By now most of the locals started to put two and two together. Just days before the new shop opened, Kabab burners were stolen from a similar shop in the next town and a cafe further south had their cake refrigerator and coffee machine stolen.

Within a month of opening it was apparent that this fellow had no idea what he was doing and came close to poisoning customers with green meat.

The rumours were rife. This guy was known for stealing cars and disassembling them to sell off the parts. He also had regulars popping in and out who didn't buy food and were much happier leaving than when they arrived. This wasn't a kabab shop it was a laundry.

The guy had a partner who insisted that the first gut buy him out and I think the money to do it came from the motorcycle gang.

On the night of September 10 my neighbour commented on how he saw the guy from the Kabab shop doing donuts in the car parks and had to run to protect his children from the maniac in the white baseball cap driving a red convertable.

At 2am an September 11 I was awoken by my landlord on the telephone who told me that I had better get down to the office. There had been a fire.

Someone inside the shop had opened the valves on the six LPG portable gas heaters and the bottle of Oxyacetylene. How it was detonated is anyone's guess.

You could see in the previous post's images that the front of the shop was blown out into the square along with the tightly packed chairs and table which promptly caught alight setting the verandah above ablase.

After sun rise the damage became apparent and the all clear to enter my office to assess the damage was given by the fire brigade.

As I stated in the earlier post, everything that had a fan in it was kaput and absolutely everything in the place was black.

A couple of days later two interesting things happened.

Another neighbour, who lived across the road from the office, told me he was awakened by the explosion and ran outside and noticed a guy in a white baseball cap in a red convertible pull up and have a look at the fire and then drive off.

A week later the ex-kabab shop owner was on crutches. He said he had an accident and dropped some glass on his foot. The rumour that had the most credibility was that some one one had cut his toes off with bolt cutters.

The captain of the fire brigade told me that if he'd been just a couple of minutes later the building would have collapsed due to the metal trusses in the ceiling cavity heating up and twisting and constricting.

This was prevented due to the fire rated cavity surround that was insisted upon by council after I directed attention to the hazard.

The first visitor to my office after the fire was the council officer who had signed off on the fire rating. He past me, straight to the exhaust and after examining it he wiped his brow with the back of his hand and said "thank god!"

Six months later I read in the local paper that he had been charged with being in possession of stolen cars. He walked free after stating he had rented the garage and had no idea there were stolen cars in it and he didn't know the name of who he had rented the garage to nor how to contact that person.

It's a real shame that buggers like that can use the law to get around it.

Getting back on topic:

My Mac Mini is always fired up and connected to my surround sound and TV for entertainment. If we're watching something on telly that requires clarification we can switch to HDMI 3 and google it or control the music play list from the ipad in the outdoor entertainment area while sizzling a steak on the Weber.

[jocampo]

My Ubuntu headless server, I call it "guanabana" ... ... is always on! One time it was on for almost 4 months I think. It used to be a webserver so was kind of funny to see how hackers tried to get in , hahahaa....

My new Mac Mini is also on, all the time. And has daily backups as well.

I don't usually travel for more than a few weeks, so I keep them on anyway, unless a storm is coming (possible power issues)

By the way, most Linux based computers run better that way. Every reboot cleans up RAM, so that's bad for performance. Unless is Window$, of course, lol ... that's a different story ...

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

I do a clean install every 5-6 months. I keep nothing on my 'C' drive except the operating system and programs. All 'saved data' is stored in external drives. All I need to do is copy the C drive 'Application Data' for my browser, mail client, and a few other applications from the 'Documents and Settings folder to an external drive, do a quick format of the C drive, re-install my applications and over-write the App Data. It takes me 3-4 hours and the machine is back to running like brandywine new, but with all my old preferences and setting already loaded! No need to labor through each program getting it set up the way I like.

Stitchawl

Start using Linux ... .. and you won't have to do that again.

The old laptop at home was reformatted almost two years ago, with Ubuntu Linux, and it's running as fast as was running before.

By the way, I do not have to worry about viruses anymore.