Poll: Do You Turn Off Your PC/Console?

[Knusper]

I turn my PC off when I'm going to leave it for more than an hour, otherwise I use the conveniently placed 'sleep' hot-key on my keyboard. If it's downloading, I'll set it to turn itself off when it's done. However I do this to save the planet rather than making sure my computer can have a rest.

 

[Tharwen]

I almost always turn it off overnight, unless I'm downloading something or doing a long scan or something. There's no point in leaving it on otherwise, since it uses 700W of power that I (read: my parents) pay for, and it makes a loud noise and flashes lights all night.

However, I feel I have more justification than most people to leave it on, since I've set it to donate some processor time to research projects from around the world whenever the screensaver comes on. (If you're interested, go [a href="http://boinc.berkeley.edu/"]here[/a]! You can choose a cool screensaver!)

Power surges from turning on/off the mains power *used* to have the potential to damage the RAM or even the BIOS (iirc). Nowadays this is not a problem, but it still remains in some peoples' minds.

Surely the real risk is that the computer is writing an important file to the disk when you turn off the power, and it leaves a corrupted file on your drive?

 

[Hafnium]

Ehm, electricity bill?!

If I don't think I need to use my computer within the next 30 mins, I turn it off. No point in leaving it on, that's expensive as well. I turn it on and off a few times per day, and my system is very stable, very few hardware issues. I don't think it hurts it to be turned off.

 

[hopeneverdies]

Consoles are off while my laptop is on hibernate. So I can start where I left off as if I never turned it off.

 

[kampori]

My console is only on when I'm gaming, so it's off most of the time.
Whereas for the PC- it's 'on' almost constantly. IE- not off, but on standby when I'm not using it.
It's just annoying waiting for the comp to boot up, then give it a few more mins to 'chill' after the strain of waking up. Wouldn't want to do that every day, so standby it is.

 

[Yoshemo]

Unless I'm running a scan or downloading something big (like a steam game) I turn off my computer when I go to bed.
As for consoles, I turn them off when I'm done, but sometimes I pause it and don't play it for a week without turning it off

 

[superwookie]

My PC and consoles are all in my bedroom, and I need complete silence and darkness to sleep. So off they go.

 

[meece]

Windows doesn't like being left on for ages. Weird stuff starts to happens after a few weeks without restarting.....

 

[sir.rutthed]

I usually turn it on in the morning and off when I go to bed. I'm gonna be on it a good part of that time anyways, and it's faster than booting up every couple hours. I left my last PC on all the time and it ended up self destructing.

 

[illas]

Surely the real risk is that the computer is writing an important file to the disk when you turn off the power, and it leaves a corrupted file on your drive?

Correct - assuming that you perform a full (normal) shutdown, no such issues should occur. Likewise, sending a computer to sleep while it is processing something will not interfere with writing a file to the HD: the system sends all the unused components to sleep (monitor output, mouse + keyboard, graphics card, sound card, etc.), lets currently running operations complete, then sleeps the remainder.

External issues such as a power cut to your house can, as you mention, screw normal files over completely (though critical system files should be safe).

 

[illas]

I
In short, before startup would kill your CPU (video card, etc...), your CPU would be obsolete anyway.

Very nicely said, sir. I'd not thought of it that way!

 

[TaboriHK]

Console, yes, because otherwise it will melt my entertainment center. For computer, it goes to the old sleep mode.

 

[Jodah]

PC : Sleep/Hibernate when not in use. Restart (to clear RAM, Updates, Etc) once a week.

Console : Turned off after every gaming session.

 

[Cain_Zeros]

Yes, I do. There are arguments for both being best, since a hard boot (start-up from off) isn't the nicest thing for your hard drive, but at the same time, it's a laptop, and gets damn hot. Personally I'll take a little more strain on my hard drive over the risk over overheating while I'm not home most of the day.

 

[supermariner]

if i didn't turn my xbox off after every session i fear it may ring-of-death me
we know how delicate the 360 can be
as for the computer
once it's on it stays on until i leave the house or go to bed no matter how little i need to use it

 

[teisjm]

Yeah, ofcourse. Electricity costs money, i don't haev a money tree, hence, i try not to use unneccecery power.

Same goes for heat, which is why my radiators aren't turned on yet even though winter is coming.

 

[superbatranger]

I turn off my 360 after I'm done playing on it, but I put my laptop on standby. It's old, so it takes a while for it to turn on if I were to shut it down completely.

 

[Enemy Of The State]

I turn everything off, at the console and at the plug.

 

[RatRace123]

I always turn off both my consoles and my computer when not in use, also my television, but I'm pretty sure that doesn't count, because only a fool would leave their TV on 24/7.

 

[Deadlock Radium]

I always turn off my console since it'll probably die if I don't.
When it comes to my PC, I click "Hibernate" and it shuts down entirely without having to wait for all that startup bullshit when I start it up again. It just loads the things that were running