Daily Shutdown – Is It Necessary for Your Computer and Devices?

Daily Shutdown â€" Is It Necessary for Your Computer and Devices?

Today we’re looking at the age-old debate on shutting your computer down daily, or for that matter a device such as a mobile phone or tablet. Is it necessary? Are you hurting anything if you leave it on 24/7? Are you helping anything if you perform a daily shutdown every night and go through the process of turning everything back on the next day?

Energy Saving

There are plenty of concerns for leaving everything on at all times. Chief among those are for energy-saving reasons and that the computer components may be harmed by staying on at all times. Let’s handle the latter first. It has never been proven that leaving your computer on will harm it, or your mobile device for that matter, and many consider that thought to be technology myth.

As far as saving energy, yes it can help to shut your computer down every night. But there are other methods that can save some money as well. Certainly leaving any electronic device plugged in and on will add up on the electrical bill. That’s a valid argument. However, you can also power down the monitor and hard drive overnight so that they are using less energy. It’s somewhat of an electronic compromise.

Will regular shutting down hurt the computer?

Confusing the matter, there are also concerns with doing a daily shutdown on your computer and devices. Some believe that the computer components can be harmed with this practice as well, feeling as the the constant on and off will put additional strain on the components. While it does affect the components, it’s never been proven that it’s a particularly harmful effect.

And of course, the number one reason we want to leave our computers on is because it’s a pain to open up and sign back in to numerous apps and websites. Of course there are plenty of apps and browsers that will save that information and automate the opening process, but it can still be a pain. It’s so much easier just to leave it on. With phones, we often leave them on because we don’t want to miss that important call.

Since it’s a hot debate, we put this question to our staff here at Make Tech Easier, asking them what they do with their machines. Surely we can look to them for some expertise. Not only do we write about them, we’re on them all day long.

Laura Tucker

I’ve gotten into the habit of never shutting anything down. I’m one of those who hates to open everything up again. I used to shut down every night, but no longer. One of the reasons I got out of the habit is because of my use of mobile devices. Most work I do is on my iPad, and there just seems to be no reason to turn that off. When I do shut my Mac Mini, iPad, or iPhone down it’s because I’m turning it right back on again. If something’s not working right, my first option is always a restart. It clears out memory and makes things work quicker and better, even if it’s just a little bit. I do utilize the sleep modes on my Mac and my devices.

Ruji Chapnik

Ruji is a lot like me in this regard. She never shuts down her devices, as she doesn’t see the need. She, too, performs shutdowns when a computer is acting up, yet logs right back in again. “I loathe the process of waiting for my computer to boot, so I avoid shut-downs.† She only shuts her phone down when she’s changing the battery.

Emmanuel Banks

Emmanuel is one of those who shuts his computer down every day, sometimes twice a day, as he does it before bed, as well as before leaving. He doesn’t want to waste the energy of leaving it on all the time. If he has to perform a large upload or when he’s updating OS X on his Mac, it falls under the very few times he will keep it running all night. He likes to use the Mac’s Power Nap feature in that instance.

Damien Oh

Damien is very conscious of his electricity bill, so he, too, shuts down every night. However, he won’t completely shut down, but will perform a hibernate “so it can retain my session for the next boot-up.”

Trevor Dobrygoski

Trevor is another one to make sure everything gets a daily shutdown. He shuts down his Android phone and tablet daily and his Windows laptop gets power-cycled usually every day. He finds the devices gain some speed after a reset, especially his phone. Some apps he uses seem a little glitchy if he doesn’t power down every day or two.

Soumen Halder

For Soumen, the option to leave his computer on or shut it off depends on how the PC is being used. He has a Lenovo laptop with a really bad battery life, so he just leaves it connected to an external monitor and uses it for secondary tasks. He never shuts it down and just does restarts every few weeks or so. On the contrary, his Dell laptop, the PC he uses for all his professional work, enjoys a regular shutdown schedule. It stays in standby when he’s working, and he shuts it down every night.

Like Soumen, whether or not to do a daily shutdown depends much on your usage and what you feel comfortable with. Just know that it’s neither safe nor unsafe for your computer or devices.

Image credit: Save Energy by BigStockPhoto