Computer Care

Let a computer sleep or turn it off?        

By Arthur Glazer

glazer.tech@gmail.com

One of the most common questions I get asked by clients is: “Should I turn my computer off when I’m done or leave it running?” Many leave them on 24/7.  I have read good arguments on both sides of this debate. Here is my take.

Unless I’m done for the day, I leave mine on. However, when I’m finished working at night, I do absolutely power it down.

On my laptop I have it set to go into sleep mode when I close the lid. On both desktop and laptop I use power settings to first dim the display, then a few minutes later, kill the hard drive and finally after an hour I have them go to sleep.

To awaken from a sleep mode, all you need to do is tap the space bar or shake the mouse. Give it a few seconds and the display will come back alive, waking the rest of the system with it.

This is good at times when you’re working, but get called to the phone or to dinner. There is no reason to keep the computer running if you’re not using it.

There is sleep or standby mode and there is hibernation. Let me say that I don’t advise an XP machine to hibernate. Often an XP PC will fail to awaken properly from hibernation to experience data loss. I recommend you turn off that feature if you use XP.

The difference between the two modes is that in standby, all your work is saved to RAM (system memory) and comes back quickly. When a system hibernates, the data is saved to the hard drive. It takes another few seconds to recover when you wake it, usually by hitting the power button instead of the mouse or keyboard.

Don’t confuse screen savers with sleep mode. They are nothing but a distraction and were initially used to prevent phosphor burn-in on the old cathode-ray tube monitors. Today they are just something to look at or something to block your screen from prying eyes.

There is an argument that a computer can’t handle daily power cycles. I don’t subscribe to that theory. Your television, stereo, game box and a plethora of other electronic devices power down often with no ill effects. Computers are manufactured to actually withstand up to 40,000 on/off cycles before failure. Considering they will last 5-7 years, most computers will fail from something else in that time frame.

By cycling down computers, the fact is not only are you saving electricity (we’ll get to that in a moment), but it is actually better for the system to be turned off every now and then.

By turning your cell phone off every day or two, you reacquire the signal from the cell tower. By turning off your computer, you refresh the system memory. It also fixes little ailments.

Often my wife will shout across the house that her browser won’t open or that she can’t play a song. After I ask her if she tried rebooting, I get a “Never mind.”

When you terminate a program in Windows, you don’t get the entire amount of RAM back that it was using. Some simply gets lost. Only by using a memory utility that refreshes it or rebooting the computer, will all that system RAM be available again.

Aside from the fact that your computer can benefit from turning it off, it will save electricity as well as the planet.

It’s not just your computer either. I walked in my dark lab one evening and thought I was at NASA. There were glowing LEDs from assorted PCs, monitors, battery chargers, power adapters/transformers, devices in standby, devices with illuminated clocks, power strips, my modem and router. Except for the last two, I have since changed what I leave on.

You don’t think it adds up, but it does. Even a cell phone charger not connected to a phone still draws current. Multiply that by everyone who leaves theirs connected. That’s a lot of wasted electricity.

Using sleep-mode on a computer that is on only four hours a day will have a 70 percent energy savings over leaving it on 24/7. Experts claim that electronic devices in standby mode burn up 5 percent of all the electricity used in the United States.

Energy Star says that by using devices with their logo on it will conserve a considerable amount of electricity by powering them down when not in use. Smart power strips monitor power usage and will terminate electricity at appropriate times.

Even non-smart strips have power buttons on them. If you toggle it off when done, it will help save electricity.

Turning off your devices not only reduces energy consumption, it also reduces pollution that is created by the power plants that makes our electricity, no matter by what method unless wind or solar.

On the average, you could save approximately $200 annually by turning off your computer when you’re done with it.

So I say to those power abusers who never power down their systems: Get with the program. Save money, save your computer and save the Earth.

Arthur Glazer is a freelance writer and computer technician in Gainesville. His column appears biweekly on the Business Page and on gainesvilletimes.com.

To Standby or Hibernate: that is the question

Computer Care: Frequent ‘naps,’ then a long rest, best to power down PC

By Arthur Glazer
arthur@glazerthepctech.com

POSTED June 20, 2009 12:12 a.m.

There is an ongoing debate concerning powering down computers. Should you leave them on 24/7 or turn them off when you’re done with them?

There are benefits to doing both, so I compromise with my computers. I put them to sleep. Since I use my PCs on and off most of the day, I leave them turned on, but put them in a state of hibernation.

Now let’s first discuss the difference between sleep, or standby, and hibernation. They both turn off the monitor and hard drive.

In standby mode, all that you are working on is first saved to RAM or system memory when you turn your computer off. When you wake it up, usually by moving the mouse or pressing the space bar, your system wakes up to what you were previously working on. This is nice, but if you’re using a laptop, it puts a drain on your power supply — namely the battery, if you’re not plugged in.

In standby mode, the computer is in a reduced power state, but remains on.

The difference between that and hibernation is that when the computer hibernates, the data is saved to the hard drive and then the system powers off. When you wake it up, this time via the power button, it, too, returns to where you left off, without any loss of data or power.

With a laptop, you can set it up so all you need to do is close the lid and your system will go in the sleep mode of your choice.

My experience is that with XP, there are some issues with hibernation. I choose standby mode when working with it. Whenever I use hibernate, it would inevitably fail and make me reboot the system, ultimately losing what I was working on.

To disable hibernate in XP, go to Control Panel and click the Power Option icon. From the Hibernate tab there, you can uncheck and thereby disable that function.

Vista works well with either standby or hibernate.

Again, if you’re on a laptop, remember the power drain and keep the sleep to a nap, unless you have it plugged in.

Using XP, all you need to do is right-click on a blank area of your desktop and choose Properties. From there you’ll see a tab called Screen Saver. Within that area is a button that says, Power. Click it and you will be able to customize how and when your computer turns off.

For example, you can set it up so your display goes blank in 10 minutes (of nonuse), your hard drive shuts down in 20 minutes and the system powers down in 30 minutes. Choose whatever works best for you.

With Vista, click the start button and go to Control Panel. Depending upon which view mode you’re in, either click on Power Options, or if you don’t see it, first click on System and Maintenance, then on Power Options.

From there you’ll be able to customize how and when your computer shuts down. Vista is a bit more sophisticated than XP in that it offers power plans to choose from as well as everything XP offers. You can also adjust your display’s brightness setting from there.

Alternatively, right-click your desktop and choose "Personalize" and go to "Screen Saver." At the bottom of that box click on the link to change power settings.

In both operating systems, you can set up different options for when it is plugged in or when on batter power. But Vista takes it a step further. You can choose on a sliding scale whether you want higher performance or longer battery life.

Under Power Options, choose a plan and then click to change plan settings. You could also click the Change Advanced Power Settings option to access the Advanced tab. By clicking on each plus sign you see, you’ll expand that option and have control over everything power related in your computer. It is highly customizable.

Now I have found that not all versions of Vista have exactly the same menu structure. So if you can’t find something, look around; you’re close.

Well, should you leave you computer on all the time? I don’t think it’s a good idea. It puts wear and tear on the moving parts, not to mention the power it uses. Beside, when you power-down a PC and turn it on again, it refreshes the system memory and the computer will run faster.

Also many times when you have a problem, all you need to do is reboot your computer. By turning it off and on again, many small issues are resolved.

I put mine to sleep during the day and shut them down at night. They follow my habits. We take naps during the day and when finished for the night, pull the plug.

Arthur Glazer is a freelance writer and computer technician in Gainesville. His column appears biweekly. Arthur welcomes your computer questions and ideas for future columns.