As an IT professional, I get this question a lot. Well - this one and many others. But today I happened to come across an article that addresses one particular issue.
http://tech.msn.com/howto/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2601927>1=9132Should I power off my PC at night?
The article offers some good information, but my response differs, depending on the circumstances.
In most office environments, your PC is attached to the network. You share files and folders, access applications, and you may print to a networked printer. To secure this network against outside attacks and viruses, most enterprise office environments run anti-virus software. Well, anti-virus software is only as effective as the most up-to-date virus definitions it has. The virus definitions have to update somehow, and they do - usually across the network - and usually at night.
You'll find that most corporate environments update their virus definitions and other software applications, patches, hot-fixes, etc at night. There is a lot less network traffic because no one is there to access the files, folders, applications and printers. The systems that update the PCs can do their job much more efficiently, effectively and with a greater degree of success at night. However, the PC can only be updated if it's powered on! Hence, my arguement for NOT powering down your work PC at night.
The article recommends allowing the PC to hibernate as opposed to powering it down. Well, when a PC in a corporate environment hibernates, for the purposes of updates, hibernating does the same thing as powering down a PC. If your machine is set to hibernate, you won't be able to receive updates.
So, the bottom line for me on your work PC - don't power it down. Unless your company has an energy consumption policy enforced, I would suggest leaving the workstation powered up, but be sure to reboot it at least once a week.
Now - for your home PC. For a short time I lived in a small studio apartment. The building was old - built in about the 1920s or 30s. Great hardwood floors, high baseboards, high ceilings, floor to ceiling bay window - really really cute. The apartment also only had 7 outlets. Yes - that's right - 7 outlets. Two-prong outlets, no less. Now think about the normal things you have plugged it - all told I had 21 devices plugged in at any given time. I literally had to unplug my 'fridge or microwave to vacuum or blow-dry my hair. No because I needed a free outlet, but because I was always blowing the breaker for my apartment.
So what does this have to do with powering down your home PC? Well, electricity was bought in bulk by the apartment complex from the power company. They in turn charged us on average, about $40 - $50 every 3 months for normal consumption. Pretty cheap, huh? Well, once I got my high-speed internet service installed, I kept my PC on all the time. Like I said, it was a studio apartment, so I used the clock screen saver as my clock. I left it like this for about a month and a half. Then my electric bill came. And it had doubled!
Try this quick test - power up your PC and all it's peripherals - speakers, monitor, printers, scanner - whatever you have attached that plugs into an outlet. Now run out and watch the little wheely-thing on your electric meter spin like a top. Now, shut everything down, run back to the electric meter, and watch the little wheely-thing slow to a crawl - or at least slow down dramatically. I don't have to go through all the power consumption kilowatt specs to have you see that leaving your PC powered up at home sucks up a TON of power.
While virus updates and Windows updates are just as important on your home PC as they are at work, they are much less intrusive and easier for your to manage yourself. Part of everyones home PC maintenance routine should be to regularly check for virus updates, or let whatever anti-virus program you use handle that for you. You should also configure Windows Update to download and install updates for you automatically. You don't have to leave your PC powered up all the time for this to happen.
