Terri Wants To Know Which is Better - Turning the computer off or leaving it running
What is better for my computer? To turn it fully OFF after using it each time or to leave it in the log off mode? It is used more than once a day.

Our Answer
You'll find techs on both sides of the aisle when asked this question. The general consensus is that you save wear and tear on your hard drives by not shutting down and starting up your computer. Each time you shut down and start up the hard drive(s) have to "spin up". This increases the wear and tear on the physical components of the hard drive(s). One of us never shuts down, and the other one does shut down occasionally. In theory, at least, those who leave their computers running should see benefit from longer hard drive life. And, when you think about it, we have left things running all our lives - refrigerators for example!

One caveat. If your area is about to be hit with an electrical storm (severe thunderstorm) we'd suggest you shut down your computer, your cable modem, and your router. Even though you may have them all hooked up through a good surge protector, storms can cause problems. We've personally had routers ruined by a very slight power surge even though the router was plugged into a surge protector. Routers and cable modems (from what we hear) are very susceptible to even minute power fluctuations.

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