Weekly Tips
-The Computer Dude
“Leaving It On Or Off”
One of the fun things about being in the computer industry is the variety of ongoing debates which never seem to find resolution.
For example, the debate over whether Windows-based computers or Apple computers are better will be an argument which will outlast even the old Hatfield-McCoy feud.
For the record, and this will probably ignite a local outbreak of the feud, but The Computer Dude recognizes that Apple computers are superior for graphics work and publishing, but Windows-based machines are more versatile, more easily available, more reasonably priced, with greater diversity and availability in software, hardware and parts than the Apple line. Or to put it another way…Windows-based machines are better.
Another of the long-running debates is whether it is better to turn a computer off each night, or if it is more advantageous to leave it on.
The Computer Dude’s answer is…yes.
There are pros and cons to each.
Leaving your computer on all the time tends to wear out the bearings in the cooling fans, both on the power supply (the bigger fan in the back of the computer near where you plug in the power cord) and the one that is regularly included on today’s CPU chips inside the unit.
It also creates heat inside the box, which is never good for electronic components.
But turning your computer on and off each day creates problems for the motherboard, the single most expensive part in your computer.
Turning the computer on creates heat for the motherboard, which makes it tend to expand a fraction of a millimeter.
When you turn it off, the motherboard cools and contracts.
This expansion and contraction can lead to tiny breaks in the circuitry, which can eventually spell doom for the board.
Now that you have plenty to keep you up at night, worrying about whether your computer is going to crash, here is the sedative:
Relax.
No matter what, someday your computer is going to crash anyway.
They are machines with limited lifespans, and every machine eventually breaks down.
Yes, even that damn Energizer bunny.
Pets die, favorite aunts pass away, and popular TV shows eventually go off the air.
It’s part of life’s cycle, so agonizing over the inevitability is a waste of valuable time which could be better spent surfing the web for the latest news snippet on Paris Hilton.
Not.
When trying to decide whether to leave your computer on or turn it off, there are other considerations.
First, if you are on DSL or any other “always on” sort of internet, it’s a good idea to leave the computer off when you are not using it.
If your computer is online, theoretically there are ways that hackers could get into your PC through the phone lines.
Firewalls help protect against these invasions, but even good firewalls can be defeated by determined little 14-year-old data terrorists with an appetite for internet havoc.
But the truth is many computer users don’t have a firewall because they tend to create other problems when you’re sending and receiving a lot of data.
With or without a firewall, the only way to be sure that nobody can get into your computer from the outside is to turn the computer and/or DSL modem off completely.
The problem isn’t as prevalent in computers which use dial-up internet.
First, every time you use your dial-up modem to get into AOL or your internet provider’s bank of modems, it’s a crap shoot as to which phone line you’re going to connect to.
This means your IP address (the unique identifier of which phone line you’re using) changes every time your log in, which makes it tougher for a hacker to zero in on your exact computer.
Also, to be honest, dial-up service is so incredibly slow these days that most hackers wouldn’t bother trying to crack into such a computer, because it would take too long to download much meaningful info from that PC.
Besides, like the code of “honor among thieves,” hackers have their own prejudices, and most computer vandals would look down their noses at anyone still using dial-up, believing that there couldn’t possibly be anything worth stealing from such an antiquated computer system beyond somebody’s online solitaire password.
The down side to turning the computer off and on is the long delays in waiting for the thing to boot up.
Every year, computer developers are designing newer and faster chips and equipment.
Meanwhile, every year Microsoft developers are designing larger and slower versions of Windows and software that take forever to load.
With the new Vistas version of Microsoft Windows, you can time it with a Gregorian calendar.
It takes an eternity for this bloated memory hog to boot up, even with gobs of RAM.
So for hyperactive computer users with patience issues, waiting isn’t an option.
But the biggest answer on whether to leave your computer on or off is this:
Cost.
The Computer Dude is notoriously cheap.
Leaving a computer on all day is the equivalent of leaving your 27-inch Zenith TV on all the time, steadily sucking up electricity.
It doesn’t equate to huge dollars, but it’s dollars.
So our advice is this:
Unless your machine is the new state of the art PC with the new Intel Xeon Quad Core 3Ghz processor, 64 GB of ram, 500 GB hard drive and a 21-inch plasma display, turn the thing off when you’re not using it.
(If you happen to have one of those new state of the art computers, you are obviously endowed with way too much money on your hands, and can afford to blow extra dough on electricity and private airplanes.)
Thus ends the debate for today.
“The
Computer Dude” is a weekly help column provided each week by “Computer Help,” a
computer firm located in
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