Thread: Keeping computer on for long hours

How bad is it to keep your desktop computer on for long hours, I mean for example I use my computer, and sometimes when going to sleep I don't turn it off and leave it on, until say like after 2 days I may turn it off!

Does this cause any harm to your computer or damage it in any way?

Originally Posted by Preeti_20

How bad is it to keep your desktop computer on for long hours, I mean for example I use my computer, and sometimes when going to sleep I don't turn it off and leave it on, until say like after 2 days I may turn it off!

Does this cause any harm to your computer or damage it in any way?

Preeti 2 days ago you were talking about saving electricity.

Keeping computer on stadby is wasting energy only, apart from that there is no other serious issue. You can keep it on and working.

There is no issues in keeping it on for long hours or days, provided there should be proper ventilation available to prevent it from overheating which will result in reduced lifetime.

^i know someone who has'nt switched off their comp for a year now... Not once is it switched off

Originally Posted by smoothvibes

Preeti 2 days ago you were talking about saving electricity.
Keeping computer on stadby is wasting energy only, apart from that there is no other serious issue. You can keep it on and working.

Yeh I know, but sometimes you think ok will be back on the comp, so leave it on for 5 minutes then forget its on! Try my best to save electricity!

Originally Posted by NrN Kill

^i know someone who has'nt switched off their comp for a year now... Not once is it switched off

A whole year! And whats the reason behind leaving it on for a whole year? For this amount of time would it not cause some kind of harm to the computer, even if there was proper ventilation?

Computers in offices are usually on all the time. Computers are built to be ON all the time. But periodic rebooting is highly recommened.

Apart from electricity bill, there is not much harm. But you should always switch off monitors.

The server which hosts this website is also a computer which is more or less the same thing that you use at home and this server is not even rebooted for months some times and is only rebooted sat once every two months.

Another example : I bought a dedicated server back in 2003 and I had it up until Jan 2005 and during that time it was only rebooted twice that too because I had some updates done to the operating system It was a pentium III with 2gb ram and used to hold a vbulletin forum with 50k+ members and used to have 400-500 people online at that time... so yes it was working hard as well.

Computers are built to keep working nonstop ... all you need to take care of is the dust that gets deposited inside so a bimonthly clean up will keep everything smooth

Thanks for the info J4K and Admin, been clarified by two intelligent people I know!

there's not serious harm.
i also kepp my pc on much time.
nearly 5-6 hours.
and also for NU.

I never shut down my pc unless there is a power cut, and believe me, pc are never meant to be shut down unless there is lack of ventilation. And also at idle they use much less elctricity.

Now a days there are better solutions for reasons such as forgot to switch off as was working late, you can always have a software to switch off like in linux a cron job will do, I always put my monitor off while leaving office the system will be shutdown automatically by the cron job. In fact all our servers (all linux based including my workstation) shutdown atuomatically. Even windows work stations are shutdown by some utility which is being used my colleagues.

My record is 20 days.

Originally Posted by Luke Skywalker

My record is 20 days.

MAN! 20 days

Hi, I am appalled ! What about electricity bills ?

leaving it on for many days or even months is common, i have my friends from usa,uk all time and their chat status is idle at our day time

Originally Posted by pshrinivasan

Hi, I am appalled ! What about electricity bills ?

who cares?
i mean in areas of low rates of electricity,there is no afraid.

my computer is also ON....while 2 laptops o fmine are next to computer are also ON....
There is no Afraid for Mee Cuz...
I hAve 4 Windmills at my nearby hilly area...
i get electricity from there.....
i have 5 cooling fans and 3 neon cooling strips for my pc..and AC is Continously ON.....
So No Wory Of OverHeating...
its jst like server,.....

My longest computer on time is 19 hrs. 32 min .....
One day I saw some movies ( 3 or 4) & then scheduled my download for night.... that's why 19 hrs. 32 min...

my comp is ON 24x7.......

actully keep comp on for long hours is not bad for u r cpu but it can harm the health of hard disk of u r computer.

Originally Posted by mickyald

actully keep comp on for long hours is not bad for u r cpu but it can harm the health of hard disk of u r computer.

I disagree with you, lifetime of hdd is 4-5 years of continuous use...

running the compy for too long is harmful....

i know this,,

Originally Posted by mickey

running the compy for too long is harmful....

i know this,,

If comp is well ventilated it is not at all harmful....

i live in a 10x10 closet, now what?? :clown:

Originally Posted by mickey

i live in a 10x10 closet, now what?? :clown:

Then just keep your cabinet open (side panel)...
Or assemble your comp. without cabinet...