Leave computer running or shut it off?

harra · Post by **harra** » Mon Feb 03, 2003 8:53 am

I'm sure if you have all the power saving features set conservatively, it wouldn't have as much of an impact. I'll be glad when they can make a computer run 24/7 with as little of a power impact as ceiling fans (which I believe they say a house full of ceiling fans only adds about $40-50 a year)

Anthony · Post by **Anthony** » Mon Feb 03, 2003 8:56 am

My computer goes to screen saver after 20 mins (does that save power?), suspends after 2 hours, and I am thinking of making it turn off the hard disks after 5... I shall never suspend though as the entire point of it being on is to avoid boot ups and not having my AIM on 24/7 (no comments).

harra · Post by **harra** » Mon Feb 03, 2003 9:00 am

I think the screen saver is a product of the old days when you ran a risk of CRT burn. That isn't a problem anymore. I hate screen savers. I've had too many PC's crash coming back from a screen saver. Instead, I set my monitor to turn off after x amount of minutes. The other setting you talked about are meant to conserver power.

Anthony · Post by **Anthony** » Mon Feb 03, 2003 9:05 am

Well I love my screen saver... It makes sure that my computer gets locked after 20 mins. It also lets me know if I am idle on AIM before I do something on the computer.

harra · Post by **harra** » Mon Feb 03, 2003 9:22 am

Like with many thinks PC-related, it comes down to personal preference. I'm just glad that we have the option to use it or not. It's when you are forced to do something that you don't like, that your computing experience gets bad

Matt · Post by **Matt** » Mon Feb 03, 2003 10:06 am

Screensavers annoy the crap out of me...I can never seem to find one I like. I have my computer turn of its screen in 20 or 30 min (I forgot the exact time) so I know that no one's been messing with it in the last 30 min.

Leah-la · Post by **Leah-la** » Tue Feb 04, 2003 4:22 pm

You could always just set your screen saver to a black screen. That's not annoying.

Anthony · Post by **Anthony** » Tue Feb 04, 2003 4:57 pm

Oh now we know who the simple minded is lol.

Timelessblur · Post by **Timelessblur** » Tue Feb 04, 2003 4:58 pm

Leah-la wrote:You could always just set your screen saver to a black screen. That's not annoying.

the black screen is most annoying to me. I have my moniter go to low power standy by but the black screen I just hate it

Robpol86 · Post by **Robpol86** » Tue Feb 04, 2003 9:53 pm

i use the black screen screen saver. i use it cuz many people and alot of other sources tell me that black screen is the best screen saver for your monitor. sumthing about the pixels not burning out. but i know people that dont "belive" in screen savers and leave their monitor on 24/7 w/o a screen saver, so i tell them to save up for another monitor. also, my friend doesnt use a screen saver, he just sets the "turn off monitor" setting to 10 mins. i leave my computer on 24/7. all it does is d/l, browse the web, and play games. it doesnt slow down on my but starts acting up and b4 i reinstalled xp, keps crashing. cuz xp is buggy w/ smp. but this install seems to have no probs yet

Leah-la · Post by **Leah-la** » Wed Feb 05, 2003 7:43 pm

I don't reallie see how a blank screen could be annoying... but that's just me. Although, screen savers in general don't bother me since I am not at my computer when they go on.

punkster103 · Post by **punkster103** » Wed Feb 05, 2003 9:02 pm

I'm running 450MHz on a PIII with Win2k, and I leave my computer on almost always. I don't really see much of a difference if I turn it off when I goto sleep or something, but then again, I have Diskeeper to defrag every day, and I always do all kinds of routine memory tests and crap.

Michael · Post by **Michael** » Thu Feb 06, 2003 7:20 am

punkster103 wrote:I have Diskeeper to defrag every day

Everyday?! That's a bit overkill, don't you think?

Anthony · Post by **Anthony** » Thu Feb 06, 2003 8:13 am

I could maybe understand it if he was using the standard defrag tool but not disk keeper. Could degraging so much hurt the computer, like kill the HD prematurely (sp)?

jester22c · Post by **jester22c** » Thu Feb 06, 2003 8:32 am

PhaseAMD wrote:I could maybe understand it if he was using the standard defrag tool but not disk keeper. Could degraging so much hurt the computer, like kill the HD prematurely (sp)?

Defragging doesn't put any more strain on your hdd than regular every day use.

Big-O Software

Leave computer running or shut it off?

Who is online