In somewhat of a compromise between the always "on" crowd vs those who shut it down, I make it a point to not turn it on and off more than once per day. And after a full day on, I "rest" it. Then I turn to my backup pc so that I can keep going and going....
The idea that a machine (any machine) will deteriorate less if it's always on is nothing more than an urban myth. The simple fact that it produces heat and movement is enough for wear and tear. If you'll leave it on it will wear and tear; it's inevitable. Turning on your machine (PC in this case) will cause a peak of activity for a number of minutes. That's nothing compared with leaving it on its own for evar.
I just put my in standby mode, doesn't make sense to reboot all the time and it will not wear it out either, same as other devices that are actually on all the time, many devices are built this way, I reboot when I do a cleaning or an install or uninstall
I use sleep mode or hibernate when I'm not using my laptops, I never actually shut them down. I don't reboot to install Windows updates, I only ever reboot when I Windows starts becoming unstable due to running for too many days.
I don't know which is better - booting the HD every day or run it 24/7. But I turn off my PC every night.
For the last 4 months I've been shutting down my machines each night, after years of leaving them turned on continuously. An added, unanticipated benefit of this is, I'm getting more sleep!
Normally, if I am not using the computer, the computer is off. I dont leave them on if they are not going to be used for an hour or so. The only time that I leave a computer on overnight is if I forget to turn it off. Bo
I strongly disagree. Ime most people turn off their computers. I turn off the computer I'm using 99% of the time when I'm done using it. So at least twice a day I power off.
Every night if I remember. As I use three notebooks, most of the time they are on sleep mode and might remain on for days.