Turn me off or leave me on?

[Texas Diesel]

Will my desktop PC last longer being left on all the time, with the HD spunup (it wont go to sleep or power down the HD since I got wirelkess) or is it better to turn it off between sessions or at night? I heard that thermal cycles are worse than constant running? Comments please! Thanks

 

[ToolManTimTaylor]

All mine stay on ... . allways. HD's shut down after 5 hours but remain live.

 

[Headshot zod]

They used to say it was better to leave them on. I leave mine on all the time but they are usually doing SETI or Climateprediction.net. I don't think it matters anymore. But since I'm oldschool about it. I leave it on and shut off the monitor.



Just make sure the interior of your computer is clean. Blow the dust out monthly. If dust accumulates (excessively) on the heatsinks it will in fact overheat and you will lose longevity.

 

[Dane]

Leave both the monitor and computer on, they will last much longer. The heat cycling and turn on current inrush is what kills them.



Make sure you set your OS to put the monitor and computer in sleep or low power mode to save energy. Usually you can get to it by right clicking on the desktop, select - properties - screen saver - power.

 

[klenger]

I used to manage the 80+ compuers where I used to work. Some people faithfully turned them off each night and others left them on all the time. I could find no pattern of reliability between the groups. Turning the computer off saves some electricity, but the automatic power saving features can accomplish the same thing.

 

[Texas Diesel]

I've done that. I have the monitor AND hard drive(s) to power off after 10 minutes. When I come in the next morning, the monitor is off and the hard drives are still spinning. I can hear them running and there is no change in sound when I move the mouse except the monitor turns on. This started when I hooked up the WAN wireless, perhaps it is keeping the drives on doing something.

 

[Eventer]

Let's look at it from another perspective.



If you have a broadband connection and your computer is turned on, you are always connected to the Internet. I can only hope you are running Linux, but most likely you are running Windows. The average life of an unprotected Windows machine is as little as 30 seconds to just a few minutes. This means that if your Windows computer is not running at least a software firewall, your machine is infested with viruses (viri?), spyware, trojans and other malware. Even if you have a firewall set up and use Internet Exploder you are still at risk when surfing.



The average life of an unprotected Linux computer is on the order of three months or so. Linux was designed and continues to be updated by persons who understand security. Apparently MS only hires children right out of college who do not understand security. (Just my humble opinion. )



If you must use Windows, use Firefox as your default browser. If you don't like the way it does something then download an extension. If you must use an e-mail client (i. e. Outlook or Outlook Express) then switch to Thunderbird. Both are available for free at www.mozilla.org.



Now back to your original question. It is thermal shock that causes failures and kills computers. You can also have failures if a computer is on for a long period of time. There have been many instances of servers running for a long period of time (not Windows <G>) without problems, but if the server has to be shutdown or loses power, then the computer will not come up because the hard disk is stuck (stiction) and won't come up.

 

[Texas Diesel]

Windows 2000. Software firewall (Sygate) and I only connect to the net using a secure (encrypted) connection. I use Anonymizer.com and it's "secure" connection. Any comments appreciated.

 

[Eventer]

Good to hear you are running a software firewall. So many people connect to the 'net with no firewall and become part of the problem.



A couple of other suggestions, if you haven't already done this. Think layered security.

1) A router that acts as a hardware firewall with stateful packet inspection.

2) Anti-virus. I use AVG 7. 0. It's free.

3) Spy-bot Search and Destroy (www.safer-networking.org I think). It's free

4) Ad-aware (www.lavasoftusa.com). It's free.

5) Make sure Windows and all the other anti-bad guy software is updated weekly and you check frequently. I may be paranoid, but I run checks after every time I surf. I have never had any infections.

6) Give Linux a try. It dual boots nicely with W2K. I use Red Hat Linux.



Good luck.

 

[Texas Diesel]

Excellent!

1. Have to look into that, the install came with an ethernet broadband router. Do I need another router that has a firewall built in?

2. I have AVG 6 (paid), is 7 that much better?

3. Have it already

4. "

5. Already do that. Additionally I use SpywareBlaster 3. 1

6. I need more information on Linux.



Thanks for the run down on this stuff!!

 

[Eventer]

To answer your questions...

1) If you already have a router, I would spend the additional money to get a router with a built-in firewall. You are less safe without it, but if you maintain your software firewall, you should be OK.

2) I used the free version of 6 and upgraded to 7 when version 6 support for updates ended. I am sure that you get additional features for the paid version. AVG's home page is www.grisoft.com.

5) I think a version 3. 2 is out. I have been meaning to download a copy but have not done so yet.

6) There are MANY Linux distrobutions (distros) available. If you haven't used Linux before (or are not familiar with any of the Unix variants) then Suse Linux would probably be a good start. If you want to play with Linux without worry about what it might do to your computer, find a "live CD" that allows you to play with Linux without installing anything on your computer. Suse, Knoppix and probably others have live CDs. Check out www.distrowatch.com for additional information. You can also buy books or magazines that have CDs (or DVDs) that have Linux distros available. Do a search on google.com for more.



On a side note... I noticed you are a Royal Purple dealer. I have been considering synthetics for my PS and transmission (and clutch for my six speed?). What would be your recommendations? Thanks!

 

[rkressg]

My department manages some 1,400 PCs, MACs, and Solaris Sunblades. We never turn machines off, especially the MACs and Solaris workstations. Users do not have permission to shutdown workstations, and when the Solaris workstations reboot, the require a BIOS boot password. This stops unfriendly users from trying to boot the workstation to a CD, and then hacking.



In responce to your question, I do not think it matters anymore with regards to turning off machines. Actually, with windows machines, turning them off and then on again will usually do wonders.



As with windows security, do not use IE unless you absolutely have to (only for windows updates) for everything else, run mozilla firefox 1. 0 (available from http://www.mozilla.org). Ensure that you have some type of antivirus software, such as panda or NAV and keep the definitions up-to-date, also, scan the local drives for viruses daily. Get some type of ad-ware removal tool, such as http://www.lavasoft.de and http://www.spybot.info. Finally, traverse the Internet with care. Programs such as WinMX and other file sharing programs leave your computer un-safe. Do not foget, many sites, such as porn sites, will attempt to plant viruses, ad-ware, and spy-ware on your computers. Solution, either do not look at it, or protect your self. Utilizing these products will not guarentee that your Windows PC will be invincable, but it can aid in preventing a premature death.



If you have a broadband Internet connection, you should seriously consider a physical hardware firewall. I would not depend upon the Windows XP firewall for anything, and I still do not trust products such as BlackIce and Symantec Firewall. Nothing takes the place of a hardware firewall. Also, get a firewall that supports at a minimum SPI (Stateful Packet Inspection). This aids in assuing that the inbound frames are what you actually requested on the Internet. Your firewall should be setup to have no open inbound ports, unless you are intentionally hosting some service. Also, deny any WAN requests, such as ICMP request. By not responding to anything on the WAN connection, you reduce your Internet footprint.



Or, if you can consider installing and running some version of Linux. I usually traverse the internet using either Linux (home), or Solaris 5. 9(work) with Firefox 1 as my browser.



-Rich