Leave My PC Running Or Turn It Off?
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Q: I’ve asked many people whether I should leave my computer running or turn it off every night and everyone has a different opinion. What do you suggest? - Sandy
A: The reason that most folks have a different opinion is usually because everyone has a different reason for either leaving the computer on or turning it off.
Many folks choose to leave their computer running because they don’t want to go through the long boot-up process when it has been turned off.
Others are concerned about saving electricity and then there are those that are trying to squeeze extra life out of their computer because they have heard that turning it on and off creates “thermal cycling” conditions that reduce the life of the electronic components.
There really is no right or wrong answer to this question, because it’s based on what you are trying to achieve.
Let’s start with the “extending the life” theories. In the early days of the personal computer, “thermal cycling” which refers to the cyclical changes to the temperature of the components was relevant. The repeated expansion and contraction of the numerous solder connections and the associated components were known to cause small stress fractures that created system failures.
The theory was if you kept the components and the solder connections at a constant temperature, you eliminated the possibility of a “thermal cycling” related failure.
Other esoteric views pointed at the wear and tear to the hard drive from being turned on and off 730 times per year and that the majority of hard drive failures occurred during startup. So, if you never turned off your computer, you also avoided those potential points of failure.
Today’s computers use components that run cooler, have far fewer solder connections and have no real exposure from thermal cycling. Hard drive failure is still a concern today, but there is no data that we can point to that shows that leaving your computer running extends the life of the hard drive, simply the theory of reducing wear and tear.
So if you hear anyone tell you that leaving it running will extend the life of the computer, they believe in the “theory” that it will extend the life.
The issue of saving electricity is a more tangible issue and again depends upon the age of your computer and what power saving features you have activated.
If your desire is to save electricity, naturally turning off the computer whenever you are not using it can save you money, but that isn’t practical for most of us. The amount of time that the computer will be idle is usually the factor that determines whether you will shut it off or let it go to “sleep”.
Virtually every computer in use today has circuitry and software to reduce the power consumption whenever the unit has been idle for a pre-set timeframe.
The easiest way to see if your computers are going to sleep is if the screen goes blank and the power indicator on your monitor goes from green to amber.
In this state, your computer is using far less energy than a 40 watt light bulb (as little as 2.5 watts for the computer and 5 watts for the monitor). The difference between turning it off and leaving it running in a power saving mode is pretty minimal when it comes to what it costs in electricity.
Your monitor or LCD screen is one of the biggest consumers of electricity, so if that is a concern, get in the habit of turning off the screen whenever you plan to step away from your computer.
We all want to save electricity whenever possible, but we all hate to wait for our computers to startup from scratch, so you will have to balance those two issues to decide what you want to do.
If you plan on leaving your computer running most of the time, be sure to install a battery backup unit ($40 -$80) instead of a simple surge protector to better protect it round the clock.
If you are going to be away from your computer for an extended period of time, in addition to shutting it down, be sure to unplug it from the wall. This will guarantee that it can’t be damaged from any electrical anomalies while you are away!
Ken Colburn
President of Data Doctors Computer Services, Host of the award-winning Computer Corner radio show, and Author of Computer Q&A in the East Valley Tribune newspapers
Tags: reboot, thermal cycling
15 Comments
Mike Nelson
July 28th, 2007
at 12:34am
There is one more thing to consider. Do you really want to give someone 8 hours to try to break into your firewalls and anti-virus programs? All the best defenses are good, but give a hacker enough time, they can break into anything. That is why I tell my customers to turn it off. It gives them 5 min. to go get a cup of coffee while it is booting up.
Mike Maury
July 28th, 2007
at 1:37am
Last August while watching CNBC they said that 40% of your electric bill was items in your house waiting to be turned on. So I went out and bought a three foot dollrod and started turning off all the power strips. My power strips have seventeen power blocks on them which consume power excessively. By turning off everything in my house when not in use my electric bill went from 800 - 1000 kw a month to an average of 420kw. which means my carbon footprint is much smaller.
Al
July 28th, 2007
at 3:59am
I read the discussion of the pros and cons of leaving a computer running or turning it off. A comment near the end of the article regarding the practice of unplugging the computer surprised me. I have had to replace motherboard batteries in old computers and I believed it was due to the fact that the computer had been unplugged for an extended period. Does the motherboard battery deplete more rapidly when the computer is unplugged?
Bruce
July 28th, 2007
at 8:24am
I agree with you, but this month I had these 2 comments from Dell support while trying to find a problem what probably was my power supply (they replaced the power supply and other parts), that seem absurd to me:
“However, you mentioned that you rarely turn off the computer. It is not advisable and it is probably the reason why you are having this issue. We suggest that you turn off the computer when you are not using it for reasons that it can wear out your computer easily. ”
and, after my reply:
“All electronic appliances and equipments needs to be turned off when you are not using it. A computer should be turned off as well.”
Fred Olmstead
July 28th, 2007
at 9:00am
You say, “If you are going to be away from your computer for an extended period of time, in addition to shutting it down, be sure to unplug it from the wall. This will guarantee that it can’t be damaged from any electrical anomalies while you are away!”
My cable modem is connected to a wireless router. I have 2 PCs, one I turn off when I go away (hardwired ethernet), and one I leave on, as I use it as a DVR (wireless). Obviously, I leave the modem and the router on. Should I disconnect the ethernet cable from the PC I turn off.
nelub
July 28th, 2007
at 11:38am
Leave my Ferrari running with door open or turn it off !?!
DarkAlly
July 28th, 2007
at 12:28pm
I turn off my computer anytime i am not going to use it for an extended period of time just because i want to help reduce my use of electricity. Sometimes for shorter periods i will put it on standby to save energy also.
Bob Delamare
July 29th, 2007
at 1:07pm
With the number of thunder storms we have had here in UK in the last 3 months, you just have to turn it off, surge protector or not.
nova576z
July 30th, 2007
at 11:27am
I am on a network with 2 desktops and 1 laptop. My main system is left on with the screensaver set to go dark after 1 minute and hard disks to stop after 20 minutes after I am done for the day. I have a hardware router firewall and Zone Alarm, Windows XP firewall is disabled. I have never been attacked by hackers. If I was going to be away for more than 3 days, the system would be shut down, but my modem and router would be left on. I don’t think there would be very much power consumption.
Harry
July 31st, 2007
at 12:27pm
Of course, if you travel much and use a service like GoToMyPC, you must leave everything on.
I use a good UPS, a good firewall, scan frequently, and hope for the best.
Jay
August 3rd, 2007
at 12:10pm
Source: I have two computer-related Master’s Degrees.
One in Computer Science and one in Information Systems. I have studied this topic.
Hardware: Computers are designed by engineers to be left on. Plain and simple. If you are that concerned about cost, turn it off.
Security: If you do not 100% understand firewalls and Anti-virus and/or have updated versions of both installed, forget wear and tear, just turn your computer off, you are asking for trouble (with a broadband internet connection).
Recommendation: Get a battery backup if you are going to leave your computer on. If there is a power outage, this will give you one hour to safely shut your computer off.
anon
September 2nd, 2007
at 7:28am
Leaving your PC running overnight when it’s idle is just nonsense. It’s bad for the environment, bad for the electric bill, and bad for the longevity of the equipment.
ramdas.kodi
September 10th, 2007
at 3:46am
Turn off my pc on running
Vish
April 4th, 2008
at 11:20am
Way to go buddy! You did a great ob doing copy and paste from, http://www.abc15.com/content/news/datadoctor/story.aspx?content_id=a5cc2ad8-f819-49bb-a3a4-d1d528efbd8e
And you didn’t mention anywhere that you got this from there as that was done at 9:47 AM on July 27 and yours is at 12:45 PM on July 27. I hope that ABC doesn’t sue you….! Good luck.
Robert Glen Fogarty
April 4th, 2008
at 5:32pm
Vish, Lockergnome has (and, as you’ve noted, other outlets have) permission directly from Ken Colburn to publish his column.
Lockergnome won’t get sued — your hopes are appreciated!