Is it ok to leave your computer running 24/7

It is bad for your electricity bill but good for your computer.

If you use it often, you want to leave it on 24/7 instead of turning it on and off every hour.

I leave mine on 24/7 and I know several others who do as well.


Edited by skyR - 23 Sep 2007 at 3:38pm

Mine are only turned off if we go on a trip longer than 3 days or if there's an electrical storm.

Servers are meant and built to be on 24/7 b/c they work 24/7.

It's all depends on your preference. Leave your PC on 24/7 will leave your PC vulnerable to internet attack if you don't have a good firewall,antivirus or antispyware apps. It also may cause premature hardware failures if it doesn't have good cooling, other than that and the electric bill  there's no harm in leaving it on 24/7. I usually turn off my PC after use and if i have it running overnight, i would set my firewall to block all internet access after a set amount of time.

Originally posted by commast It's all depends on your preference. Leave your PC on 24/7 will leave your PC vulnerable to internet attack if you don't have a good firewall,antivirus or antispyware apps. It also may cause premature hardware failures if it doesn't have good cooling, other than that and the electric bill  there's no harm in leaving it on 24/7. I usually turn off my PC after use and if i have it running overnight, i would set my firewall to block all internet access after a set amount of time.

I agree with commast.  In todays day and age, if you don't have a good comprehensive security package, you deserve the hack.

There are so many great programs that will keep people out these days and you'd be a fool not to be proactive and find them.  Great freeware and affordable security programs are readily available that there really is no excuse for not having something.

I've never been hacked, not to say that I wouldn't be hacked, but the chances of you getting hacked as Joe blow consumer is slim (Unless you have enemies and have "friends" in low places).  I've never ever turned my system off.  I've never ever had heating problems because its been left on.  I've never had equipment failure because I leave it on.  You'll most likely change hardware for an upgrade before you ever burn out  piece of hardware.

Bottom line, it is personal preference.  Based on what you've experienced in your past with hardware, hackers and electric bills is what you should base your decision in, and not what is necessarily working for others.

NOTE:  It is very hard on your hardware when you boot from off.  You will run more risk damaging it in the long term by doing that rather than leaving it on all the time.

It'a a lot like your car, a lot of stop and starts are harder on parts than just letting things run constant.

Originally posted by GruntMaster This may be a dumb question, but can pc's in sleep mode still be hacked? I have left my pc on for 5 years straight and just have it set to go to sleep after being idle. The only other time I've shut it off is when on vacation or if I need to force quite for some reason.   I actually do turn off my DS pc when I'm not using it...mostly because I don't want my 2 year old messing with it or my wife surfing the net on it. I'm very protective of my new pc, but otherwise, I'd probably leave it on too.

Edited by TheLastSuperman - 24 Sep 2007 at 6:37pm

I agree with Robert.