Do You Stay Online?
I leave my computer on all day and all night long. The only time I ever turn it off is when I'm on the road. And then when I reach my destination, the computer once again stays on 24/7.
Some of the sites I belong to have a feature that tells others when I'm online, that is, when the internet is connected to them, but I'm afraid that's misleading. I'm sure there's a way to turn that feature off, but I don't always find it.
So if you 'see' me online, it could be a mirage. Since I can't sit for very long, I pop in for a few minutes and check the cyber world before I disappear once more.
I used to dutifully turn off my computer if I was going to be off more than an hour, but an IT person at work told me I was doing more harm turning it on and off that often. It was best to leave it on. So I have, with no ill effects in all these many years.
It's certainly a more expedient use of my time than waiting for it to boot up. I mean, like what if I have a brilliant idea? (Hey, it can happen!) With my meager brain cells I could lose the idea before the darn computer wakes up. And don't even mention paper and pen. I can never find them when I need them.
So if you see that I'm "on", it's quite possible I'm actually out cutting brush, washing dogs, or...GASP...even writing. So I'm on, except when I'm off.
Does your computer stay on all the time?
Some of the sites I belong to have a feature that tells others when I'm online, that is, when the internet is connected to them, but I'm afraid that's misleading. I'm sure there's a way to turn that feature off, but I don't always find it.
So if you 'see' me online, it could be a mirage. Since I can't sit for very long, I pop in for a few minutes and check the cyber world before I disappear once more.
I used to dutifully turn off my computer if I was going to be off more than an hour, but an IT person at work told me I was doing more harm turning it on and off that often. It was best to leave it on. So I have, with no ill effects in all these many years.
It's certainly a more expedient use of my time than waiting for it to boot up. I mean, like what if I have a brilliant idea? (Hey, it can happen!) With my meager brain cells I could lose the idea before the darn computer wakes up. And don't even mention paper and pen. I can never find them when I need them.
So if you see that I'm "on", it's quite possible I'm actually out cutting brush, washing dogs, or...GASP...even writing. So I'm on, except when I'm off.
Does your computer stay on all the time?
Comments
I enjoyed your post! Our old computer is slow so I don't use it often and shut it down at night. I'd like to leave my laptop on but drives my husband nuts if I don't shut it down every time I leave it to do something else. It's a pain. Oh yeah, he's retired. :)
Since you keep your computer on all day, assuming it is a laptop, do you have a cooling mat for it? I bought one of those cooling mats for my laptop.
Have a good Monday.
My research shows that laptops use less electricity than desktops. I completely understand leaving your laptop on. Mine takes forever to boot up too. (It's old.) Because it does heat up, I shut it down at night though.
A cooling mat is a good idea. I normally use my desktop because it has the big screen. If my injuries keep me bedridden, I use the laptop.
Next time I go to the electronics store, I'll look for those cooling mats. Thanks!
When I had the day job, I shut it off during the day. But since I'm in and out all day now, I leave it on.
To save money, I always shut off the monitor and the pc is automatically set to hibernate if none of the keys are touched for more than ten minutes.
From my reading, the biggest point of failure with the constant on-off thing is hard disk wear but I'm of the opinion that HDDs get flaky after 3-5 years anyway, so we have a family policy of always replacing them within that time-frame. This is a problem when you run Windows, because Redmond doesn't like you installing the same licence multiple times, even if it's only on successive machines. For Linux, it isn't a problem at all.
I was told the same thing. I leave my computer on until it starts running sluggish, then I do a shut down and restart and it's good to go for a couple of weeks.
And you're right. Sites like MySpace (and I think FaceBook, too)show that you're online, but I'm like you, Maria. I leave my desktop on and check it off and on through out the day, so, yes, that's kind of misleading. Even though it shows I'm "online" I may not be. :)
4 machines at once? Wow. I think it's a good idea to give it a shut down every few days just to refresh it. Whenever I notice mine acting sluggishly I shut it down for a few minutes and reboot.
PS --glad I don't run 4 machines at once.
I'll bet some people must think we never sleep. :o)
I noticed one of my sites showed me as online and realized, oh heck, people must think I never sleep.
I wondered if anyone else did what I did.
I didn't realize you could get cooling pads for a laptop. I must go and check them out.
Years ago I had a desktop with heating problems which was solved as soon as we replaced the fan with a bigger one, but I never thought about the laptop and it can get hot. I really need to look into that too.
I didn't know the sites would see a connected computer as sleeping. I thought maybe you had to tell it so.
I noticed on a few of them like Skype, you had to tell it you were online but away--or something like that.
Since I got a new laptop last year - oops, make that the year before last - I've gotten into the habit of not shutting down completely, sometimes for weeks at a time. I send it to sleep, or hibernate if I'll be away from my desk for awhile. I also set it to hibernate overnight. I do a restart every couple of weeks and the computer seems none the worse for it.
Like you, my machine stays on, though I think it's a good idea to cycle it every few days just to refresh the cache.