# My PC - Leave it on or turn it off **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 11, 2003, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-pc-leave-it-on-or-turn-it-off/218358 "2003-12-11T14:50:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stover9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@Stover9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stover9)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-pc-leave-it-on-or-turn-it-off/218358/1 "2003-12-11T14:50:51Z")
What’s the best way to preserve the life of a PC - leaving it on all the time, or turning it on/off every single day (or somewhere in between)? My roomate had a Gateway, and although it was only 2 yrs old sort of “exploded” once when he turned it on - okay, it didn’t explode, but something happened, and it started smoking and it no longer operates (at all). The thing is, I turn mine off, but my roomate now uses mine during the day while I’m at work, then he turns it off when he’s done, so it gets turned off/on multiple times daily, and I question how good this can be for the PC. . . ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-pc-leave-it-on-or-turn-it-off/218358/2 "2003-12-11T15:29:10Z")
This has been debated endlessly, both here and in the trade press. No concensus exists. It becomes a six-of-one, half-dozen-of-another tradeoff. PCs generally become obsolete long befor they fail, so the issue is largely moot. Naturally there are individual exceptions, such as your roommate’s machine. If smoke came out of the PC case (not the monitor) it’s a good bet his power supply toasted. Those cost $40 and are pretty easy to replace. Smoke out of the monitor means it’s time to buy a whole new monitor; in general they’re not economically repairable. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-pc-leave-it-on-or-turn-it-off/218358/3 "2003-12-11T15:32:16Z")
Let’s just say there are two schools of thought about this . . . 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![milk\_milk\_lemonade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecccb3/32.png) [@milk\_milk\_lemonade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milk_milk_lemonade)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-pc-leave-it-on-or-turn-it-off/218358/4 "2003-12-11T15:32:42Z")
I agree with LSLGuy, it will be obsolete long before it fails due to power cycling. Switch it off and save energy…! ---
**Author:** ![5cents](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/46a35a/32.png) [@5cents](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5cents)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-pc-leave-it-on-or-turn-it-off/218358/5 "2003-12-11T16:44:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Stover9 \* > \*\*What’s the best way to preserve the life of a PC - leaving it on all the time, or turning it on/off every single day (or somewhere in between)? > > My roomate had a Gateway, and although it was only 2 yrs old sort of “exploded” once when he turned it on - okay, it didn’t explode, but something happened, and it started smoking and it no longer operates (at all). > > The thing is, I turn mine off, but my roomate now uses mine during the day while I’m at work, then he turns it off when he’s done, so it gets turned off/on multiple times daily, and I question how good this can be for the PC. . . \*\* As somebody else already wrote, it’s the $40 power supply that take the hit, don’t worry about it. A quick rule of thumb for cost of leaving something on is $1 per watt per day. PCs consume anwhere from 100 to 400 watts. If you PC consumes 100 watts, then it costs you $100 per year to leave it on all the time, or $50 half the time, or … Running all the time and blowing an extra $50 (or more) in energy, on the off chance you’ll save your $40 power supply, is false economy. There are valid reasons for leaving a computer always on, but saving wear and tear on the power supply isn’t one of them. ---
**Author:** ![5cents](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/46a35a/32.png) [@5cents](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5cents)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-pc-leave-it-on-or-turn-it-off/218358/6 "2003-12-11T16:50:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by 5cents \* > **$1 per watt per day** whoops, brain and fingers aren’t working together today. That’s $1 per watt per year. The rest of the figures are correctly stated. ---
**Author:** ![stevephillips](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ab097/32.png) [@stevephillips](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stevephillips)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-pc-leave-it-on-or-turn-it-off/218358/7 "2003-12-11T16:58:43Z")
I leave mine on all the time for convenience. I agree that chances are it will be obselete long before anything goes bad. If you leave yours on, you might consider running one of the philanthropic distributed computing programs listed here: > **[Intel | Data Center Solutions, IoT, and PC Innovation](https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/homepage.html)** > > Intel's innovation in cloud computing, data center, Internet of Things, and PC solutions is powering the smart and connected digital world we live in. I’ve been running Stanford’s program for about a year now. The only annoyance is I have a dial up modem, and the computer does call into the Internet about once a day. ---
**Author:** ![Wysiwig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b2d939/32.png) [@Wysiwig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wysiwig)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-pc-leave-it-on-or-turn-it-off/218358/8 "2003-12-11T17:44:09Z")
Computers all start up with a POST (Power On Self Test), memory count, CPU check, Keyboard check, disk access etc. If you leave the computer constantly on you will not know if a component part has failed whilst on. It is recommended that you do power off/on occasionally just to make sure all is well. You could have a bank of memory Simms fail due to dirty contacts, not the end of the world but if you did a lot of work only to find it fails to save…remember that all PC’s also have a fan in the Power Supply sucking/blowing dust about inside. ---
**Author:** ![CPUSlave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecb155/32.png) [@CPUSlave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CPUSlave)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-pc-leave-it-on-or-turn-it-off/218358/9 "2003-12-11T18:06:53Z")
I don’t necessarily agree with you on this one Wysiwig. The POST will test everything sure, but modern operating systems have a pretty good idea as to the state of your hardware while the system is running. Disk failure? Oops, I can’t read this file. Bad sectors in my RAM? Unexpected application crashes. On top of all this there are hardware monitors accessible through most motherboard BIOSs. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-pc-leave-it-on-or-turn-it-off/218358/10 "2003-12-11T18:18:26Z")
Can’t we all just get along? Compromise: don’t you have a sleep feature on the computer? If you’re dedicated to turning it off, Hibernate is a pretty good option for computers that support it. Me? I let the Macs sleep 'cos I use them all the time, and turn off the PC box because I rarely use it. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-pc-leave-it-on-or-turn-it-off/218358/11 "2003-12-11T18:50:56Z")
Leave it on in the OP’s case. Of course, when a thunder storm or power outage is anticipated- turn it off. Also turn it off when you’re all going to be gone for the weekend or something. However note one important thing- the MONITOR is not the computer, and uses up a lot more power. Many modern monitors come with a 'sleep" feature- if yours doesn’t, turn it off fro any gap over a few hours. ---
**Author:** ![Stover9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@Stover9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stover9)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-pc-leave-it-on-or-turn-it-off/218358/12 "2003-12-11T19:47:05Z")
Thanks all for your advice! One thing I do notice is that if computer is on for several days in a row, the “pf” usage (which I _think_ is an indication of memory used (under CTL+ALT+DEL)) starts to get high even though no programs are running, and simply restarting the machine will bring it back down to lower levels and gaming or other things will run more quickly/smoothly. As you can tell, I’m learning all this now, so my I apologize for my ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-pc-leave-it-on-or-turn-it-off/218358/13 "2003-12-11T21:13:26Z")
- - - One argument for turning it off at least once a week is that my virus program seems to seek updates automatically only after rebooting. Of course you can just hit the thing and it will check or updates, but how many would remember to do that once a week? ~ ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-pc-leave-it-on-or-turn-it-off/218358/14 "2003-12-11T21:44:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DrDeth \* > Leave it on in the OP’s case. Of course, when a thunder storm or power outage is anticipated- turn it off. Also turn it off when you’re all going to be gone for the weekend or something. Just anecdotal, sure, but my computers are on 24/7, thunderstorm or not. The one and only time I turned them off over the past 5 years for anything other than maintenance, a thunderstorm came by and the next morning, the modem didn’t work. It’s hard not to blame the OFF position for this action. Another program along the lines of **stevephillips** ’ suggestion is [seti@home](http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/), where you can contribute your unused CPU cycles toward the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-pc-leave-it-on-or-turn-it-off/218358/15 "2003-12-11T22:17:40Z")
- - - If you are not totally gonzo on security (and especially if it’s a Windows XP computer) turn it off. This thread: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=228543](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=228543) --in the IMHO forum reminded me that since the proliferation of Windows XP, net span has taken another large upswing. The reason is poor Windows XP security and ordinary folks who aren’t aware of the problems that an unsecured machine on an always-on high speed line can cause. WinXP security is as poor as every other OS Redmond has foisted upon the public and will be for the first 2-3 years it’s available. Knowing this, at the least with any MS OS, you should disable your net connection if you have cable or DSL. Turning off the PC is more obvious, and accomplishes the same thing. ~ ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-pc-leave-it-on-or-turn-it-off/218358/16 "2003-12-11T22:17:48Z")
- - - If you are not totally gonzo on security (and especially if it’s a Windows XP computer) turn it off. This thread: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=228543](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=228543) --in the IMHO forum reminded me that since the proliferation of Windows XP, net spam has taken another large upswing. The reason is poor Windows XP security and ordinary folks who aren’t aware of the problems that an unsecured machine on an always-on high speed line can cause. WinXP security is as poor as every other OS Redmond has foisted upon the public and will be for the first 2-3 years it’s available. Knowing this, at the least with any MS OS, you should disable your net connection if you have cable or DSL. Turning off the PC is more obvious, and accomplishes the same thing. ~ ---
**Author:** ![Will\_Repair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a698b9/32.png) [@Will\_Repair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Repair)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-pc-leave-it-on-or-turn-it-off/218358/17 "2003-12-11T23:03:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Stover9 \* > **One thing I do notice is that if computer is on for several days in a row, the “pf” usage (which I _think_ is an indication of memory used (under CTL+ALT+DEL)) starts to get high even though no programs are running, and simply restarting the machine will bring it back down to lower levels and gaming or other things will run more quickly/smoothly.** One drawback to leaving it on. Other drawbacks are: -The fans for the cpu and the power supply are mechanical and therefore more prone to breakdown. -The monitor (ones with CRT) uses most of the power and should be turned off (or put into standby.) (Given a room with over a hundered computers running 24/7, monitor failure is the most frequent problem. Not drawbacks: -Electrical usage is not that great (not counting the monitor) in the order of a clock radio and a answering machine. -No waiting for bootup. ---
**Author:** ![BlackPheonix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dfb087/32.png) [@BlackPheonix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackPheonix)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-pc-leave-it-on-or-turn-it-off/218358/18 "2003-12-12T02:38:32Z")
I got a new mac, which I now leave on 24/7 with occasional restarts. When I sleep it the internet disconnects, hd and monitor shut off. Fan shuts off. It makes absolutely no heat while sleeping (or hibernating). ---
**Author:** ![myles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@myles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myles)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-pc-leave-it-on-or-turn-it-off/218358/19 "2003-12-12T03:37:43Z")
tell me about it, I went to live in Europe for about six months in the summer and absentmindedly left my computer running with a lot of programs running for the entire six months, when I came back that winter, my Computer was moving pretty slowly. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-pc-leave-it-on-or-turn-it-off/218358/20 "2003-12-12T04:11:34Z")
I’m a leave on unless away from home for days person- when at home then shut off monitor, and I still have the original power supply from a Win 3.1 machine (1994)-replaced fan only. Methinks I’m likely very lucky. 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-pc-leave-it-on-or-turn-it-off/218358.md?page=2)