I leave my computer up all night since I go to bed at midnight or later. I am up at 6 am on school days and I check my email while I am eating my breakfast. I multi task since I have a limited amount of time before I have to be out on crossing guard duty station.

My first computer was windows 98 and I had to reboot it during the day at least once, so I just started turning it off at night. It became a habit and I like a dark house at night and it's got to save a bit of electricity and I found out by asking around that it seems to be six one way and six another.

Vista in Sleep mode holds everything in memory and disconnects from the network, powers everything off excpt for a small current to keep the memory from losing the data.
If you lose power while in standby you lose everything not saved to file.

Hibernate on Vista and XP .. fully powers everyghing down, after writing everything to a huge file on the hard drive.

Standby on XP if you have Wake On Lan enabled could be dangerious but not many home computers will have that option set. And again if you lose power, everything not saved is lost.

A thunderstorm is most peoples worse fear... because a voltage surge could damage the computer.

My laptop sleeps after 5 hrs of non use,, then it must snore as it wakes me up just in time to see the the little amber light blink on.

mine stay on and up 24/7 only reboot if needed, with my linux boxes that is rare, with windows usually reboot with updates, have done it that way for years with no ill effects. The times I tried using any of the power saver features they caused headaches so they are all disabled on all my machines.

In the event of bad weather they all get fully unplugged from the power and phone line, same when I am gone for any duration. I have every single thing that connects to my computers on power strips, so it makes it real easy and fast to simply unplug the main power strips and everything is dead.

I unplug everything if a thunderstorm comes when I see the first lightning or hear the thunder first.

Mine run 24/7 and only reboot as needed. I set the hard drive and monitor to snooze after 15 minutes of inactivity

My 2 computers run 24/7 and I only reboot as needed.
At one time I used to set the hard drive and monitor to turn off after a certain period of time, but now everything is set to Never.

on my windows machines I do have AVAST screensaver scan set so that after the alloted time the screensaver comes on and does the AVAST scan which I really like, it gets done during the time I am not using the pc. and I don't have to worry about scheduling scans.

I have weird work hours and can get called any time from work to resolve issues so I do not hibernate or even set the screen saver. This allows me to stay connected to work for long periods of time. I do take precautions when there is bad weather.

One problem that I notice is that certain applications freeze if I leave the PC "on" for long times. Lexmark's Printer Software is one. And a Java Update Program is another. When I finally try to turn off the PC, Dr. Watson starts executing, then stops, then I get a note about the Lexmark Software being "busy" at which point I click to stop it and XP Pro then logs me off. No biggie.

Luis you might consider going into msconfig (click Start, click Run, type msconfig/OK) and stopping your Lexmark printer from running at start up. I did this with my HP printer, there is no loss of use or speed of use when this is done.

A lot of perceived thoughts and recommendations are from the necessitated lore of pre-Win2000.

For the point of discussion, a shutdown/reboot is at times necessary as a simple remedial step in alleviating a concern. It can be thought of as a reset. Shutdowns any other time except for system preservation due to adverse weather are not necessary.

Back in the days of Win98 a daily reboot was recommended as that O/S tended to corrupt through use and inactivity. In fact, the reboot concept has pretty much gone the way of a necessary screen saver in that it is old technology. It is harder on the system to heat-cool-heat-cool than to leave it up and running.

I did a non-scientific study a few years back where I left the old Win98 P3 out in my garage off for a month. My electric bill savings was a little less than $4.00 a month.

Let them run.

DA

I shut mine down (a proper shut down) not at tower..each and every time I'm done using it, even if it's a few times a day, NP's doing this...

damccoy wrote: In fact, the reboot concept has pretty much gone the way of a necessary screen saver in that it is old technology. It is harder on the system to heat-cool-heat-cool than to leave it up and running.

Is this true regardless of whether one is using a desktop or laptop ? I've heard some horror stories about laptops being left on for too long having heating issues [read: fire]. In fact, a computer guy I know told me about one of his clients who left his laptop on for a few hours and it started a small fire (while he was in another room) ! I realize this may be a relatively rare event, and due to faulty equipment, but it does seem that it's almost always with laptops. Just wondering if this is anyone else's understanding.

Scott

not2bright-
Laptops are generally only a concern if you leave them sitting on a soft surface, like a bed or couch, where it is possible for the cooling vents to get partially or completely blocked, or for heat to build up because a blanket or fabric underneath acts as insulation and the laptop can retain more heat than is good for it. You should always leave a running laptop on a hard surface, without anything blocking the vents. I like to use my laptop while sitting in the living room, but it got hot sitting directly on my legs, so I got a small lap table for it that keeps it elevated by about an inch. In addition, the table has a small fan that runs off a USB cord, and keeps everything nicely cool. When I'm not using the laptop, I put it and the lap table on another surface, and don't worry about it. It runs 24/7.

I have some of my towers under the desk on small pedestals and some on top of the desk, I have a ceiling fan in the room that usually is on except in the dead of winter and under the desk I have a small fan that runs circulating air around those towers at all times, it can get warm under that desk and the fan does help keep air moving.

My husband uses his laptop all day long at work, he puts it in the docking station when he gets there in the morning and it stays there and on and running till he comes home at night unless he has a meeting to take it to, but it gets good air flow being on the desk and in the docking station.

I think if a laptop caught fire like that it had a serious over heating problem, if it did not have it's vents blocked. I know a lot of bad batteries in laptops have caused fires.
they do make laptop bases that have additional fans built in them to help keep them cool.

Raven, you said your husband leaves his laptop on almost all day, is it plugged in to elec outlet all that time. Does it hurt to leave them plugged in for hours?

Stargazzer my daughter has 3 laptops at her place that are on all the time and connected to the hydro. No apparent ill effects...............

kudzu9 and ravencajun,

Thanks for your comments ! I'll pass them along to my aunt (who uses an HP laptop and shuts down every time she goes offline). At least her mind will be at ease about leaving it on throughout the day.

Also, I do believe that the person I noted (whose friend's laptop caught fire) did say it was likely from a battery (as ravencajun suggested), which unfortunately one can't really know about ahead of time -- until something goes wrong. :-(

Thanks again !

Thanks owbist, the salesman told me to let the battery run completely down every once in awhile. I turned that into not keeping it running on power. I bought my Toshiba to use when I travel, not email and internet as most do but for games and movies when I have nothing to do and for music in my hotel room. On cruise ships they charge 75 cents a minute and for me that is high because of how much time I spend playing games, so I won't do the internet to much.

not2bright-
While some laptops do have a battery overheating problem, this usually turns out not to be a unique, random problem, but, rather, a design problem for particular computer models...and there have been a number of battery recalls by various manufacturers. What this means is that you shouldn't have to worry that it might randomly strike you. Usually it's a well-known problem and you could easily do an online search for your particular model and the words "battery +fire" to see if anything turns up.

kudzu9,

Thanks for the additional comments ! I'll check things out !

in answer yes his laptop is plugged into the power when he puts it into his docking station, not running on the battery.

Whether its a laptop or a desktop turning a system off and on unnecessarily is a negative for long term reliable service. Ride past any big time company at night and look through the windows at all the systems left on after working hours. A computer system is not a kitchen ceiling light. Plus, on/off switches do fail. Not often but they do.

Ambient room temperature and free air flow for the system are both important, and I agree with all the dialog shared here on those issues.

DA

on/off switches do fail
That's one of my biggest concerns.
Ever try to find a replacement switch that matches your box or brand.
Good luck.