leaving PC on for long period.........

[MrFortissimo]

If you're on dialup, you should get Firefox, and check for extensions that speed up downloads. I haven't looked that deeply into the matter for Dialup users, but there might be something there that would help. www.getfirefox.com

-:-Mitchell

 

[bmxfreakrider]

yea i read somewhere it is better to leave the pc on, except for dust but i got no wories. i keep mine on for 3 weeks at a time, i turn it off to clean the dust off of it, or to change the hardware, even then still, i got a new video card, and the pc was on standby, i had no idea, so i plugged in the card and hit power button and it roared to life(got 2 loud *** fans) and was like o crap and went to device manager and hit detect hardware changes and it works perfectly!! haha. but for download, yea use firefox, or just get dsl. o wait, r u on dsl? there is slow dsl, im lucky i got it .....aint a good thing, but its cheap, **** some dsl is cheaper than aol

 

[chrisds]

changing hardware ISNOT however a good idea with ANY power in the system you got off lucky man but not adviasble to anybody to attempt doing that

get a DSL connection is probably the answer to this question however then you would not need to leave your PC on (unless like me you do anyway)

also I never herd that about laptop batteries before 'mophead740' but that's interesting my laptops do have good battery life thanks

 

[The General]

Mine has been on for 7 months.

 

[COD2_fanatic]

just to say bmxfreakrider, AOL SUCKS!!!!

i have DSL now, but i had AOL, and i can't remove it from my moms computer, i've tried manually, and the add/remove thing (which it doesn't show it), although i haven't tried safe mode, but she yells at me for looking at it so heh, let her suffer

 

[venividivici]

My computer stays on 24/7 and I did the same with my laptop. When my old hunk of junk desktop died I left my laptop downloading large files for days and days at a time. I think in 3 month period I had used somewhere in the vicinity of 800gb of bandwith (down and up).

When you start up a computer is when you cause the most shock to it because you are adding electricity to it. The only time my computer goes off is if I am rebooting or the power is out.

Right now I am on dialup so I know all about very long downloads, that is why I haven't downloaded anything larger than 100mbs in months :\. My move at the end of the month won't come soon enough when I will once again have a 6mbit cable connection .

 

[Athlon]

8 days to download something? wow you must have one very slow connection!!

Not really, you cannot say that not knowing the size of the file.. it could be 30gb or something

 

[KingAustin]

Not really, you cannot say that not knowing the size of the file.. it could be 30gb or something

Or the server/location where he's downloading is really slow..

 

[GreenTeaBagger]

Hmmmm. These are odd responses. I support the shutting-down of non-server computers. The reason I say this is because prolonged use of the computer adversely shortens the life of many components, especially the PSU. There are two huge disadvantages that come to my mind when leaving the computer on for long periods of time.
1) The worst disadvantage to keeping it on is that it greatly shortens the lifespans of many, if not all, the components in the computer. The constant exposure to the high temparatures (to which chipsets such as the CPU and GPU are highly susceptible) will shorten the life of the component even with adequate cooling. The transistors and the capacitors will "leak" and break due to the long exposure to the power.
2)PSU will most definately be the first to give up. The constant load will be unbearable for it and it will give way.

Unless you want to kill your computer fast turn it off when you aren't downloading or working on it. It's only common sense that the harder something works the more problems it will encounter due to stress and other factors. Treat a computer as if it were a human.

venividivici you are totally wrong on the perception that turning the computer on "adds electricity" and causes a "surge" of some sort. PSU's have something called voltage tolerance which prevents the sort of thing your describing from happening. Infact leaving the computer on for long periods of time will increase the chance of getting"surges" unless you own a UPS or Surge Protected Power Outlet.

Edit: I am dissappointed in all of the people who leave their comps on for no apparent reason...its the result of laziness and impatience that people leave their computers on when they aren't using them. SHAME ON YOU ALL!

 

[KingAustin]

Hmmmm. These are odd responses. I support the shutting-down of non-server computers. The reason I say this is because prolonged use of the computer adversely shortens the life of many components, especially the PSU. There are two huge disadvantages that come to my mind when leaving the computer on for long periods of time.
1) The worst disadvantage to keeping it on is that it greatly shortens the lifespans of many, if not all, the components in the computer. The constant exposure to the high temparatures (to which chipsets such as the CPU and GPU are highly susceptible) will shorten the life of the component even with adequate cooling. The transistors and the capacitors will "leak" and break due to the long exposure to the power.
2)PSU will most definately be the first to give up. The constant load will be unbearable for it and it will give way.

Unless you want to kill your computer fast turn it off when you aren't downloading or working on it. It's only common sense that the harder something works the more problems it will encounter due to stress and other factors. Treat a computer as if it were a human.

I agree somewhat with the part that it does make everything more susceptible to shorter life spans, but do we truly know the life spans of our parts? Most of us upgrade parts within a few years if not a lot sooner. So, with that in mind, will it really make a difference in that time span? Only one way to find out...