I get asked the question whether or not it is best to leave the computer on or turn it off when you are not using it.. Asked to me at least once a week and I do not know why I can not find this answer in one of my many TIPS, but nothing that actually makes mention of it. Not that I haven't answered it at least a hundred times. In any case I will put this to rest hopefully once and for all in this blog.
If you are connecting to the internet through a network connection (highspeed, either via broadband-cable connection or ADSL-phone connection), then you are connected all the time. If you are required to dial a phone number then you are on what is known as "dial-up service".
Your computer has antivirus (I hope) and quite probably a few spyware scanners and possibly email "mail washer" type programs running on your computer. These are obviously needed for any of the many internet related products such as email, or surfing the web. When you connect to the internet the connection is established in one of the methods mentioned above. The dial up-obviously you would know when you are connected by the fact that if you picked up the phone, you would probably hear the loud squeal and beeps of the modem communicating with the internet server (your service provider). While you are receiving your email and/or are surfing the web through your web browser (Internet Explorer or other), then you are using the internet. Such programs as MSN messenger, Yahoo Messenger, AOL Messenger also utilize the internet and will in most cases, automatically sign in once it detects the internet or even when you first start your computer. This is usually because the setting has been "defaulted" to start when windows starts, which you can change by entering the programs OPTIONS or sometimes is found under PREFERENCES. This is a very useful thing to know in any program.. It's OPTIONS, since I look at this as being the table of contents to a book, it will show you what the options of the program are, and just what you can do with them. Typically you can view the programs OPTIONS without changing anything by simply clicking on CANCEL when you want to close the window. If you have made any changes, then they will not take place until you click on APPLY or by pressing OK, which will also close the window after making the changes. Therefore you should never feel afraid to open the programs "options" and see what is available to you. This will in many ways, help you understand the inner workings of the program a lot better since you will know what the program is capable of doing.
Now to get to the question of what should you do, leave the computer on or off when you are not using it?
This is actually quite simple I believe. My answer would always be LEAVE IT ON. This is because if it was a computer that I had ever had my hands on, it would be set up with the latest antivirus program, which also has the latest virus definitions. After all, what good is your antivirus program if you have not updated the virus definitions-which is what the program uses to make sure you do not have a virus. Therefore, if your computer is turned off, how can it get those latest updates? It can't-until you turn on the computer, in which case, depending on how your connection to the internet is, these will begin, once it detects the internet. Therefore if you are on a highspeed connection, once your computer is "ON", then it will most likely detect the internet and your antivirus program should check to see if there is a new virus update available. Depending on your program, it will either automatically update (in most cases), or you will be prompted that there is an update available.. Note that this may actually be a "new version' is available or, it might be that there are other WINDOWS UPDATES available, which can easily be confused with your antivirus. In any case, you will want to complete these updates. This is the number one reason why you should be leaving your computer turned on. Now knowing that your computer is best to be left on, there are ways you can OPTIMIZE the power management of your system.
Typically I would set the screen saver to about 14 minutes... This gives me enough time to not be constantly bugged with the screen saver kicking in if I am lost in thought for a few minutes, however is set long enough to save from any potential "burn-in" on the computer monitor. Note that if you are using an LCD monitor, this is really not something you would have to worry about anyway. At the same time, I have the hard drive spin down, usually at the same as when I have the monitor to turn off, which is 45 minutes. I have found this to be a good enough length of time to have the monitor turn off (too soon and it is actually harder on your monitor, turning the power on and off, too long, and you are just wasting electricity), and since your monitor is most likely the main consumer of the power, this is a pretty good length of time to have it shut off.
You can learn more about OPTIMIZING your computer from my TIPS section HERE.
What about STANDBY and HIBERNATE? Note that when you choose STANDBY that it saves everything just as it is, to the RAM or MEMORY of your computer and then turns off, however if you move your mouse, press on the keyboard, the computer will come back on. This mode "standby" is good if you want to have your system only come on when there is a scheduled task, such as an antivirus scan, however it will be missing out on the obvious available updates since it is actually turned off and not monitoring the internet.. That is, if you are not using a dial up connection. These people on a dial-up pretty much have no choice but to have their computer "on" when they go to connect to the internet, and therefore, unless you like waiting for your computer to boot up, I suggest leaving it on as well, that is, unless you only use your computer once every other day.. Not like most, that will check mail at least twice a day, in which case I would definitely be leaving the computer powered on.
Now, if you do not have a UPS (uninterrupted power supply) I highly suggest you purchase one, since it will set you back less then $60 (Canadian) and can save the life of your computer, it is like having an insurance policy for your computer. Since all UPS's have some sort of "lightening insurance policy", if your equipment was actually shocked after a lightening or other electrical short, your equipment is protected by whatever policy your unit has. APC, which in my opinion, holds the top spot in UPS technology has one that would see all the parts reimbursed up to $15 or $20 thousand dollars.. Well worth it wouldn't you say?
So, to sum things up..
Yes, I would leave your computer turned on and NO, I would not be using STANDBY or HIBERNATE. What is hibernate? It is the same as STANDBY only everything that is running is saved to a file on the hard drive before the system is shut off. In HIBERNATE, the computer WILL NOT turn itself on for any scheduled task such as a virus scan, however when you turn the power switch to on, you will notice how fast your computer boots up.. Because it never really had to boot up, it simply reads the hibernate file and reloads things just as they were when you turned the power off. Note that this is a good mode to be in on most laptops if you want to save on battery power or if you are busy re-charging. But be aware when using either STANDBY or HIBERNATE, that your computer is not rebooting and in some cases, after installing certain programs, they may prompt you to restart and choosing STANDBY or HIBERNATE is not restarting your computer.
When I have told people that it is best to leave your computer on, it is not uncommon that your computer (usually running windows xp) may not actually be restarted for weeks at a time, since there was never a need to restart it. However, this can also lead to some problems of their own. This happens when certain spyware may get in to your system and or a change since a new program you have installed has taken place, but because it never required the computer to be restarted nor did it prompt you to restart, that you actually will not see the changes until you restart.. Which as I mentioned, may not be for a few weeks. At that time, when you do restart and something doesn't load properly, or you are unsure of what has happened, realize that this may be because of the resulting download you did a few weeks earlier.. I make this statement since quite often lately, I have seen types of spyware get in to a computer but will not take hold until the computer is restarted, at which time, the "start up folder" or "windows prefetch" now has the start up file and things can get ugly.. It is for this reason that I have made mention to all that I speak to on this topic, that regardless of any prompts, if you haven't had to restart your computer for any other reason, get in to the habit of restarting it occasionally, knowing that there could be this sort of spyware taking hold of your computer.
On the topic of restarting the computer, this may happen after you get the latest virus update, or spyware update. When prompted to restart, be sure to go and complete another "live update" of the virus definitions or do a new scan of the spyware program, since you have recently downloaded and installed the latest updates, there may be more to come but could not be installed until the first set of updates was installed. You should always continue to run the updates until you see the prompt telling you that you are "up to date". In some cases, you will have a file date or version number showing you this information which you can then cross-reference from the manufacturers website.
