Computer on or off!

At night when you go to bed or if you aren't going to be on your computers for any length of time do you switch them off or leave them on Standby/sleep mode?? I am just wondering because with the old computer I always turned it off properly everynight but I have heard people say that this does them more harm than good so what is the best way and what do you all do?

well i turn mine off at night. but during the day i leave it on all day. I dunno about doin harm. but i switch all the electrical stuff off at night anyway. For safety reasons really, dont want an electrical fire. Plus i assume the pc would overheat if on all the time?

They always say with tvs its not good to never turn them off, so i assume same with pcs.
my bro once has a thought it might save electricity bills leavin it on all the time as booting it up wud use alot of electricity, but apparently not

Mines hardly ever off unless it crashes

It depends...mine is usually left on all day, as I am in the house. Unless I am downloading, I turn it off if I have to nip out.
My OH usually leaves his on all day & night, as he downloads a lot.

You should switch off all electrical appliances at night i think

I switch mine off at night

Well our server is on all the time, but unless it is a Unix box there is no real problem either way.

If it is your laptop I would just turn it off.

From what I've heard it used to be that shutting a computer down puts more stress on the components - don think this is as relevant today.

Shutting down is fine but would recommend never to unplug the computer as some computer processor fans will run after shutdown to cool the processor, if you unplug it this stops this process and can kill the processor

The only real issue with having the computers on all the time is the electricity involved - with 12 computers in the house I know all about that

Aileen x

I always turn everything off at the mains when i go to bed

call me over cautious

3 desktops and 1 laptop, all get switched off overnight, unless I'm doing a defrag or downloading something.

Thanks everyone Yes well I will probably turn it off everynight then because I am also uncomfortable about having electrical things on all night. I even hate the fridge being on all night but I know that you can't turn that off Think that is about the only thing I leave on though.