I shut my computer down every night. If I'm going to be gone several days I not only shut it down, I unplug the computer from the wall and unplug the phone line from the wall.
You are wearing your fan motor out and pulling dust thru your computer. Your hard drive may be running more. If you get a big surge of electricity that jumps your surge protector, it may save your computer by having it turned off.
Your surge protector is passive and works whether it is turned off or on. When it is off, the surge has to jump the switch and the surge protector to get to your computer.
The only good thing about leaving your computer on is that you can get rid of the dust bunnies, the fan will pull them into your computer and Kentucky Utilities will love you.
With the increased use of always on DSL and Cable Internet
and with the growing threat of hackers and worms, it makes even
more sense to shut your computer down when not in use.
A computer not running and not connected cannot be hacked.
ANOTHER GREAT REASON TO CUT YOUR COMPUTER OFF AT NIGHT.
It's not unusual to get low on system resources after you use Windows for a long stretch, especially if you open and close programs frequently.
Adding a bunch of RAM doesn't help. System resources are stored in fixed memory blocks that reside in your System RAM.
Programs store certain routines inside your system resources. Some programs don't reallocate or release the memory, so after a while your machine gets full. You have to restart Windows to free up memory again.
That's why Windows feels more reliable if you start it up fresh every day.
Return to Previous Page