Shall I Shut Down My Computer Every Night?

Shall I Shut Down My Computer Every Night? – One of the most asked questions I get asked.

So many people do not know the right answer to this question. What’s more alarming is that many techs out there advise leaving the computer always on.

Computers like most electronics and appliances might burn out before their expiration if are always left on. It is common sense. This is not the main reason though for wanting to shut down my computer every night or every other day.

Primarily you would want to shut down your PC because of the RESTART process. A computer goes through many updates, it also creates temporary files and at times it initiates a disk check to repair any existing logical errors on the hard drive.

If You Do Not Shut it Down

If you do not shut it down, it will not get a chance to restart and DIGEST any pending errors and updates.

Shall I Shut Down My Computer Every Night? The answer is YES. You are letting the computer metabolize its processes just like a human being does after eating.

If you don’t, here is what could happen:

• Freezing;
• Slowness;
• Weird errors that have never been heard of and for which there is no solution;
• Background desktop picture disappearing;
• Desktop icons disappearing;
• Some programs will stop working or will not work correctly;
• The day that you actually shut down your computer after so many months or years, the computer will not turn back on or it will take forever to start;
• Mouse not responding at times;
• Keyboard not responding any longer or you type one key but a different one will display;
• You will be left unprotected and vulnerable as updates have not gotten a chance to register into your Windows operating system;
• And more, much more.

I Met Techs that Will Swear by About This

I met techs that will swear by about never shutting down a computer, and that is the craziest thing I have ever heard of. Of course, these machines are capable of being left on for a long time but this does not mean that you want to do that. In fact, and am sure you must have heard of this, the first thing that a pc tech or an IT will do to repair an issue when there is no logical explanation for it, is to shut down and restart it immediately.

I suspect a few techs will advise you not to shut down your computer to feed their agenda and that’s just wrong!

In addition, how many times have you installed a program and right after doing that, you get asked to restart the computer for the software to take effect? Almost any big software I know of needs a restart which implies a shutdown :).

Now You Know – Restart it Already

A restart is fundamental. I shut down my computer every night, literally. Power outages can also fry your computer and if it’s on during a storm at night while you are sleeping, you might just wake up to find a black screen and a blinking cursor on the left upper corner or worst, nothing at all, your PC will be DEAD.

It happens more often than you think. I get the calls, I know what I am talking about.

What About StandBy or Hibernation?

I know, many of you might say: I never shut down my computer and it works perfectly, or I close the lid and that is all I do. Not all computers are affected with issues by not restarting and shutting it down; mainly it depends on your usage and whether you are installing updates and/or new programs.

However, soon or later, the consequences will come as a result of this negligence. When it comes to the standby or hibernation functionality, in theory, and in practice, it works but only for a while. After weeks or months of doing so, you will experience issues as mentioned above.

I have seen it happen repeatedly: do not just press the power button or close the lid, these actions will trigger the standby or hibernation functions by default unless you change these settings. The best way: Go to the “Start” menu on the left bottom corner of the screen, click on the “power” symbol, and select “shut down” or “restart”. For Mac computers: press Control+Eject; when a dialog box appears, click the Shut Down button.

In conclusion, if you wish to protect your investment, shut down this computer already for God’s sake :).

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So long!