SHOULD
I LEAVE THE COMPUTER ON ALL THE TIME, OR TURN IT
OFF WHEN I'M NOT USING IT?
There are two schools of thought on this issue:
LEAVING IT ON ALL THE TIME:
Reasons for doing so:
1) Because Windows 95/98/ME takes so long to start, your computer will always be ready for you to work on if you leave it on all the time.
2) Because electrical parts can be damaged by the shock of the electricity being turned on, you should try to reduce the number of times you "cycle" on and off your computer. (This is why light bulbs fail more often than not when you first turn them on.)
3) Electrical parts expand and contract with temperature which can cause failures over time. If they are left on, they will expand and contract much less. In fact, a problem with your computer can sometimes be "traced" to a very small break in the copper tracings or wires on a printed circuit board. This break will disappear as the board expands with heat, so your problem may go away if you leave your computer on for a while.
TURNING YOUR COMPUTER OFF WHEN YOU ARE NOT USING IT:
Reasons for doing so:
1) Your electric bill will be lower. A computer and monitor uses about as much electricity as one large 3-way bulb, or two or three regular light bulbs.
2) The memory (RAM) becomes fragmented with use. As you open and close your favorite programs, little bits and pieces of your program stay in RAM and are not completely eliminated when you close them. Eventually, your 64 Megabytes (or whatever) of RAM becomes so "chopped up" that you cannot open large programs or data files anymore, or they open very slowly. We've seen computers that took about 30 seconds to a minute to respond to the click of a mouse button. This delay time would drop to about 2-3 seconds upon restarting the computer.
When you restart your computer, the RAM is loaded with Windows 95/98/ME and a few of the small programs that automatically start when you turn on your computer. (You can see some of their icons in the System Tray next to the Time in the lower right-hand corner of the screen.) The rest of the RAM is free in a large, continuous block, allowing you to load more of your important programs.
3) Windows 95/98 has a bug in one file that will cause your computer to freeze after 49.7 days of continuous use. This means that you should restart your computer at least ONCE A MONTH to avoid this problem. But since Windows 95/98/ME and programs like Netscape Navigator (the web browser) are not very stable to begin with, your computer will probably crash or freeze long before 49.7 days anyway.
When your computer does freeze or crash, it is always better to restart your computer to clear the RAM and remove any remnants of crashed programs.
4) Since electrical parts can be weakened or damaged by heat, leaving your computer on all the time means that the parts will always be warm, thus shortening their life spans.
OUR RECOMMENDATIONS:
Turn your computer off at least every two or three days.* If your computer freezes or crashes, it is probably a good idea to restart your computer immediately to clear the RAM and start over again.
If you don't use your computer that often, then we would recommend turning it off when it's not required, and then turning it on when you do need it.
* unless the computer is used in a business as a "server," in which case it needs to be left on all the time. A server is a computer where shared programs and data are stored. These programs and data can be accessed from multiple "workstations," or computers, throughout an office or home.
There are two schools of thought on this issue:
LEAVING IT ON ALL THE TIME:
Reasons for doing so:
1) Because Windows 95/98/ME takes so long to start, your computer will always be ready for you to work on if you leave it on all the time.
2) Because electrical parts can be damaged by the shock of the electricity being turned on, you should try to reduce the number of times you "cycle" on and off your computer. (This is why light bulbs fail more often than not when you first turn them on.)
3) Electrical parts expand and contract with temperature which can cause failures over time. If they are left on, they will expand and contract much less. In fact, a problem with your computer can sometimes be "traced" to a very small break in the copper tracings or wires on a printed circuit board. This break will disappear as the board expands with heat, so your problem may go away if you leave your computer on for a while.
TURNING YOUR COMPUTER OFF WHEN YOU ARE NOT USING IT:
Reasons for doing so:
1) Your electric bill will be lower. A computer and monitor uses about as much electricity as one large 3-way bulb, or two or three regular light bulbs.
2) The memory (RAM) becomes fragmented with use. As you open and close your favorite programs, little bits and pieces of your program stay in RAM and are not completely eliminated when you close them. Eventually, your 64 Megabytes (or whatever) of RAM becomes so "chopped up" that you cannot open large programs or data files anymore, or they open very slowly. We've seen computers that took about 30 seconds to a minute to respond to the click of a mouse button. This delay time would drop to about 2-3 seconds upon restarting the computer.
When you restart your computer, the RAM is loaded with Windows 95/98/ME and a few of the small programs that automatically start when you turn on your computer. (You can see some of their icons in the System Tray next to the Time in the lower right-hand corner of the screen.) The rest of the RAM is free in a large, continuous block, allowing you to load more of your important programs.
3) Windows 95/98 has a bug in one file that will cause your computer to freeze after 49.7 days of continuous use. This means that you should restart your computer at least ONCE A MONTH to avoid this problem. But since Windows 95/98/ME and programs like Netscape Navigator (the web browser) are not very stable to begin with, your computer will probably crash or freeze long before 49.7 days anyway.
When your computer does freeze or crash, it is always better to restart your computer to clear the RAM and remove any remnants of crashed programs.
4) Since electrical parts can be weakened or damaged by heat, leaving your computer on all the time means that the parts will always be warm, thus shortening their life spans.
OUR RECOMMENDATIONS:
Turn your computer off at least every two or three days.* If your computer freezes or crashes, it is probably a good idea to restart your computer immediately to clear the RAM and start over again.
If you don't use your computer that often, then we would recommend turning it off when it's not required, and then turning it on when you do need it.
* unless the computer is used in a business as a "server," in which case it needs to be left on all the time. A server is a computer where shared programs and data are stored. These programs and data can be accessed from multiple "workstations," or computers, throughout an office or home.