You may think, How Often Should I Shut down My Computer? is a basic question, but there is no straight / right answer. In other words, you can answer that it depends on how you use the computer.
It is recommended that any devices should need some time for moderation / breathing time. This is not only for a computer. It is applicable for all devices. This article will help you to learn how often you should shut down your computer.
There may be some unavoidable circumstances which force us to leave our computer ON for 24 hours. If your computer on a Network, so Network / System Admin may backup files, doing software upgrade over the network during free / night time. In this scenario, you need to keep your computer ON for a long / all time.
How Often Should I Shut Down My Computer
Moreover, if your Computer acts as a file server, print server, Web server on a LAN (local area network) or the Internet, then you need to leave it on all the time.
If you are NOT in above two scenarios, then you would have an option whether or not to keep your computer ON.
The main purpose why you want to turn off your computer is economic. We know that a computer consumes around 300 watts. Okay, let’s assume that you use your PC for four hours every day, so the other 20 hours if it is on would be wasted power energy. If electricity costs 10 cents per kilowatt-hour in your area, then those 20 hours represents 60 cents a day. Sixty cents a day adds up to $219 (Rs, 13,000) per year.
Yes. The modern computers to use the energy-saving features build into modern machines and cut that figure in half. For an instance, you can have the monitor and hard disk power off automatically when not in use. You’ll still be wasting $100 per year.
Leaving your computer ON all the time stresses the computer’s components. For example, when the CPU chip is running, it will get quite hot, and when you turn the machine off it cools.
How Often Should you Shut Down your Computer
As we know that by default, clicking the Shut down button closes Windows and turns off your computer. Also, you can turn off a desktop computer by pressing the power button on the computer case. Pressing the power button on the edge of a laptop puts the computer into an energy-saving mode called sleep. Sleep mode automatically preserves open documents and programs in memory and shuts down all nonessential functions. The advantage of sleep is that it takes only seconds to restore your computer to where you left off and uses a very small amount of electricity.
How Often Should I Shut Down My Computer?
- Shut it down when you’re definitely not going to use it.
- Put it to sleep mode when you know you’re going to access it within a short period of time. This is handy when you’re moving from 1 place to another that would not take you a long time to reach.
- Put it to Hibernate mode when you want to resume working from the current state but you’re going to do that within a longer period of time.
- When you’re going to use your laptop for a long period (i.e., 8-12 hours) and it’s connected to a power source, take out the battery (provided there’s little risk of losing work). Leaving it plugged on with the battery for too long will shorten the battery life. When your work is more important, then of course you have no choice.
- Utilize your warranty and know when it expires. Don’t wait till the last minute to send it for repair in case there’s a problem. You don’t want a situation whereby you regret not sending it a week ago.
