Why To Shutdown Your Computer Properly Each Time You Are Not Working on It

By: Kay Brenner

There are various reasons why you should shutdown your computer when you are not using it, especially for long periods of time. The main reasons being to save money and prevent damage to your computer. Some people leave their computers on with the argument that the start up process takes too long and leaving the computer on saves them time.

Leaving your computer on all the time can be bad for its health. If there is a sudden interruption to the power supply, this can lead to important data being lost. Overheating can be a problem especially if the computer has not been cleaned or is situated in a very dusty environment, while a computer is on, its fans are constantly running trying to control the temperature of the computer, however if the computer is never switched off, the fans can also attract dust, the dust enters through the fans and becomes lodged within the machine thus causing the machine to overheat. This can become expensive as it will result in hardware failure. Regular cleaning of the inside of the case and all fans is highly recommended, the regularity will depend on where the computer is situated and how dusty its environment is.

Computers that have to be left on for the majority of the time, for example, servers, computers hosting websites and/or games, where there are many users logged in at the one time, it is advisable that these types of computer have a backup in case the machine becomes faulty or has to be shut down for servicing and repairs.

Although updates to the computer can be downloaded while the computer is running they cannot be fully installed until the computer has been shutdown and rebooted. Necessary programs such as Anti virus and spyware require that the computer be rebooted before they can be completely installed. When using a Windows machine, a lot of minor issues can be fixed by simply shutting down and restarting the machine.

Computers also need to be shutdown to protect the RAM, each time the computer is shutdown the memory is wiped clean. Whenever a program is opened it uses up RAM and when the computer is shutdown it is then deleted from the RAM. By keeping the computer turned on is drains on the system resources until the RAM is very low.

Leaving your computer running can be very expensive, as well as not being very cost effective it is also depleting natural resources. It would be good practice to shut down the computer, each time you know that it will not be used for a few hours. Even when the computer is in sleep mode it is still using electricity, therefore to be more efficient the computer should be closed down completely.

Once I had to download lots of software to my PC and I had to let it download overnight, I didnt want to keep my PC turned on all night long after finishing the downloads and at the same time I could not stay awake to wait for it to finish the downloads and turn it off! Therefore I made a VBscript that allows the PC to turn Off automatically in an interactive way !, I assign the minutes the PC will be turned on before shutting down according to how much time the downloads will take, I gave it some little extra time to turn off after the time required for download in case there may be any decrease in speed but at least I wont stay awake nor I will keep my PC turned all night long doing nothing!

About the Author

Kay Brenner is a PC errors consultant who specializes in restoring your slow PC, saving you time and money wrestling with a sick computer. To reclaim your dream machine you first bought, download a free PC Health Check visit http://www.pcdocpro.com

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