Do I need to turn off my computer? Is it harmful for a computer to turn off at night or is it better to put it into sleep mode?

First, let's define that by sleep mode we mean a mode in which the computer reduces power consumption, but does not turn off - all components remain turned on and are ready to wake up.

Turning off the computer at night is definitely not harmful, nor is putting it into sleep mode.

From an electronics point of view, if you put it into sleep mode (namely sleep mode, not hibernation), if it is a laptop, a situation may arise where the laptop overheats - for example, if for some reason it did not go into sleep mode, and then if it freezes, and you close the lid - then it will be harder for the coolers to draw in air (in most models, the holes for drawing in air are located not on the side, but in the same plane as the keyboard). If the laptop overheats, it will shut down. Overheating is harmful to electronics, but it is unlikely that your laptop will fail just once.

But, strictly speaking, such a case is not very likely.

With a desktop PC, such overheating is unlikely to be a problem. But another problem may arise with it: if you use an HDD (regular hard drive, in which there is a magnetic surface over which the read head “floats”), and not an SSD, then a power outage (or even just a short-term “blinking”) if you do not have a source connected uninterruptible power supply, may lead to damage to hard disk, because the read head will “fall” onto the disk and damage it. Then yours hard drive will be scratched something like this: The consequences can be different, and depend on where the read head falls - perhaps some files will simply become unreadable (the system will be sure that these files exist, because a record of this is stored in the surviving part of the disk, but it won’t be able to read the file, because it’s right where the disk was damaged), and perhaps if more important files(for example, system, or MBR - main boot record, which is located in the first sector of the disk: ), then the system may not boot at all.

In fact, many modern hard drives know how to cope with this situation. But your drive may be older or you may simply be unlucky.

If at night there is a sharp surge in voltage in the network, and your computer is not connected through a surge protector, this can also lead to problems (the system unit or something along with it will burn out). Both shutdowns and power surges can occur during the day, but if the computer works twice as hard, then the likelihood of such an event may be slightly higher.

From a software point of view, if we are talking about Windows, then a long uptime (working without reboots) can lead to slowdowns in the system. So if your Windows goes a month without rebooting, it may (or may not) start to glitch. Therefore, sometimes restarting the computer from a software point of view is useful.

The on-off case is more interesting. When you turn on your computer, there is some voltage surge (which, by the way, these electronics are designed to handle). In case of wear or defects, such a jump can damage some PC components. In addition, if you have installed regular hard disk, then turning on and off means parking the read heads and bringing them out above the working surface. The more this happens, the more wear and tear (this applies to all mechanical moving parts). The more wear, the greater the likelihood of failure. But again, if you don't turn on the computer every five minutes, then this is normal use of the computer, and hard drives are designed for that.

To summarize - yes, if you start digging, you can make several arguments that turning on and off could potentially be more harmful to the computer from an electronics point of view. But, by and large, this is saving on matches. Personally, I would not leave a desktop computer in sleep mode overnight due to a possible power outage, or a laptop due to possible overheating (with closed lid). I would not take into account the nuances of power surges when switching on and off, because the electronics are more likely to become obsolete than frequent switching on and off will have an effect.

"Pros" and "Cons"

There is a widespread belief that constant turning on and off of a computer has a more negative impact on its operation than uninterrupted operation, since basically all failures in the operation of electronic devices occur precisely at the moments of turning on or off. In fact, this is quite understandable: any switching on is really dangerous for various electronic equipment, because at this moment voltage drops and thermal expansions occur electronic components. It is for this reason that you do not need to turn off your computer if you decide to leave for just a couple of hours.

For such situations, there are standby modes in which slightly less energy is consumed, or turn off the monitor and all equipment except system unit. The computer will boot from standby mode much faster than it will turn on again.

The second advantage is a static thermal environment. When computer components are turned on and off frequently, they are subject to thermal particle movement. No one has confirmed this scientifically yet, but there are opinions that this can greatly disrupt the stability of the system (at least, the example of the structure of a textolite board comes to mind).

In the case when electrical network, to which the computer is connected, works quite reliably and continuously; it does not need to be turned off at all. However, if you are not sure about the operation of your electrical network, then it is better to secure your PC.

Leaving your computer running overnight can be a very rational solution: for example, you can download movies from the network or defragment disks.

There are also arguments in favor of turning it off. This is a reduction in energy consumption, fan noise in the system unit, which interferes with sleep (over time, wear and tear on the fan makes it work even louder). Although experts say that in fact the fan can work normally for at least two years before the first need for lubrication.

At the same time, we have an interesting result from a study conducted in the USA. American Internet users switch their computers to standby mode at night, and not for energy reasons. They just don't want to wait a few minutes in the morning for the computer to boot.

So, to make your choice in favor of one solution or another, you need to remember the following:

• Standby mode reduces power consumption, but not as much as turning off the computer completely;
• Many people believe that always on and turning off the computer causes it to quickly break down. Maybe that's how it was 10 years old back – hard drives produced in the 90s actually depended on voltage drops. Now computers can easily withstand more than 40 thousand cycles on/off, which is very for a long time normal operation;
• Although it is believed that screensavers protect the screen to some extent, this is not entirely true in terms of energy consumption. The screensaver can consume up to 42 W, and the graphic screensaver is even more - up to 114.5 W.
• Many people think that the computer does not consume electricity when it is turned off. This is only partly true when the computer is not connected to local network. Otherwise, to continuously maintain the connection, it needs 2.3 W. In standby mode, the computer also consumes 2.3 W, and in sleep mode – 3.1 W.
• One thing to remember is that LCD monitors use less power these days ( 22 W while the PC is running, 3.3 W in sleep mode) than traditional monitors ( 75 W And 5 W respectively).

Now that all the arguments in favor of whether or not to turn off your computer have been outlined, the choice is yours!

In the morning and evening, many of us are accustomed to turning on and off the computer. This takes a lot of time. However, we do not turn off mobile phone, when we talk about it, we simply put it into standby mode, turning off the display, and, if necessary, instantly restore its operation with one button. You can do the same with your computer, by refusing to turn it on and off every day.

Instead of turning off the power, you can simply put your computer into sleep or hibernation mode, which will significantly reduce the time it wakes up, which you spend waiting and launching applications every day. When using sleep, the operating system stores the system state in memory and enters a low-power mode. Hibernation saves the system state to disk and completely shuts down the computer. The system is returned to working condition quite quickly. There is also a hybrid mode, in which the system state is saved to disk, and the computer goes into a low-power mode. In short, these three methods can be described in tabular form as follows.

What are the advantages?

No need to wait

At complete shutdown and turning on the computer takes longer than when entering and recovering from sleep/hibernation mode. For example, turning on the computer can take from 1 to 10-15 minutes (depending on the number of programs in startup and the speed of your computer). When restoring your computer from sleep mode, it only takes 5 to 20 seconds!

No need to close working programs

When using sleep/hibernation mode, there is no need to close your running programs because when restored, all your applications will be running and in exactly the same state as you left them in when you switched to sleep/hibernation mode.

At simple shutdown you will need to close all programs and then open them again when you turn them on, which also takes time and effort.

Process automation

When using sleep mode, you can transfer some of the automatic processes to night time. For example, you can use the task scheduler to assign a creation time backup copies, disk defragmentation and a number of other important operations that take quite a lot of time. Thus, you will not spend a second of your time waiting for the completion of such operations, because they will be performed while you are resting.

This automation is possible if the “Allow wake timers” option is enabled in the power settings.

It may also be useful for automatic processes to set a sleep timer. This can be done in the same settings window by specifying the desired value for the “Sleep after” item.

How to activate sleep mode and hibernation?

For laptop

In the case of a laptop, the optimal solution would be to use the sleep mode, which turns on when the laptop lid is closed. The laptop is equipped with a battery and its consumption is very low. Therefore, with frequent use, this will be the most convenient. At the same time, you will get almost instant system recovery after opening the laptop lid, which will allow you to get to work right away.

In case you are planning on long time If you stop working with your laptop, you can put it into hibernation mode and then it will not consume any energy at all.
If the laptop's battery charge is critical and it is in sleep mode, the system will automatically put it into hibernation mode and completely turn off the power.

Your data will not be affected. After turning on, everything will be restored in the form in which you last left the computer.

To activate sleep mode when closing the laptop lid, go to “Control Panel” - “Power Options” and in the right side panel, select “Actions when closing the lid” and select the desired value.

For desktop computer

For desktop computer, which does not have a battery, you can also use sleep mode, but in this case you will have to keep it constantly connected to the network. You can also use hibernation or hybrid mode.

When using hybrid mode, the computer will be restored very quickly, and you will be able to start working almost immediately after pressing the power button (or you can configure the computer to turn on when you press any key on the keyboard or mouse, which is also convenient). In the event of a power outage during hybrid mode, the computer's power will turn off, but data about the system state will remain on the disk and everything will be restored the next time it is turned on.

To activate sleep mode when you press the power button on the system unit, go to “Control Panel” - “Power Options” and in the right side panel select “Actions of the power buttons” and select the desired value.

To activate hybrid sleep mode, open Control Panel - Power Options. Near the active item, click on the “Set up power plan” link.

In the tree window that appears, select “Sleep” and in it the “Allow hybrid sleep mode” item.

After saving your changes, Hybrid mode will be automatically activated when sleep mode is activated.

Conclusion

Using sleep and hibernation modes when working with a computer allows you to save a significant amount of time and start working almost immediately after opening the laptop lid or pressing the power button on your desktop computer. In this case, there is no need to launch working programs every time - after recovery from sleep/hibernation mode, all working applications are automatically restored. You can turn off or reboot your computer in this way only in extreme cases, when a reboot is necessary after installing updates or any software.

Do you turn off your computer every time? If yes, then why?

Whether you own a PC or a laptop, you've most likely heard discussions about what exactly needs to be done when shutting down a job. Some people say that you should definitely turn off your computer every time, while others have a different point of view - that you can leave it in sleep mode in order to access it faster. But who is right? Do you really need to turn off your computer every time you finish working on it? There's really no clear answer - you'll have to work this out for yourself. Next, you will learn about the advantages and disadvantages of turning off your computer and hibernating it.

Viruses

So, the first argument in favor of turning off the computer is the threat of viruses. The fact is that your computer, while it is connected to the Internet, is under a constant barrage virus attacks, which gets worse if you visit unsafe sites. They protect you from viruses special programs, but sometimes they are not enough. However, how can viruses penetrate a computer that is turned off? Therefore, it is recommended not to leave it in sleep mode, but still turn it off.

Correct shutdown

If you are going to turn off your computer, then it is very important to do it correctly - do not press the shutdown button, do not unplug the cord from the outlet, all this will only harm your PC. Close all programs first to ensure data safety, and then turn off the computer through the appropriate screen in the Start menu. If you turn off your computer correctly, it will start up again quite quickly, so there will be no need for sleep mode.

Safety

Constant operation of a laptop or computer negatively affects its general condition. If you constantly put it into sleep mode instead of turning it off, its wear and tear will accelerate significantly.

Energy

Many people say that sleep mode is good because it consumes very little energy. However, it is worth noting that a switched-off computer does not consume energy at all, so here the choice must clearly be made in favor of turning it off.

Sleep delayed

However, it is worth noting that the sleep mode also has its own arguments, which are no less weighty. For example, research shows that delayed sleep mode, which puts the computer to sleep after a certain period of inactivity, can save serious energy costs, so even if you turn off the computer completely, you should not neglect sleep mode in special cases.

Inconvenience

For many people, turning off the computer is a serious inconvenience, since they have to constantly wait for it to turn on again, while the computer wakes up from sleep mode in just ten seconds, no more.

Duration of absence

IN this issue The length of time you are away from the computer plays a big role. If you are going to go out for lunch or take a break for an hour or two, you can safely leave the computer in sleep mode, but if you are away for a long time, then it is better to turn it off. After all, the parts that make up a computer fail faster the longer they are used.

Programs

It's also worth noting that sleep mode is a great way to save all your activity on your computer. The fact is that before shutting down you will need to close all programs and documents, save data, and so on, that is, this is a slow process. And if you put your computer into sleep mode, then you don't need to do any of this. When your computer wakes up, everything will be exactly as you left it, and you can get started right away.

Making a decision

The most difficult question in in this case- which side to take? After all, both turning off the computer and hibernating mode have their own advantages and disadvantages that are worth considering. For each person, the decision may be different, depending on what exactly he wants to achieve in the end. If you want to increase your productivity, then you need to choose sleep mode, so that you do not have to save everything before shutting down, restore all your data and reactivate programs after turning on, and wait for the computer to boot. But, on the other hand, this uses more energy and also wears out your computer much faster. In general, there is no single right answer - it all depends on your preferences. Do right choice, which best suits your specific situation. Perhaps in the future there will be some other mode that will correspond to shutdown, but at the same time provide the ability to quickly recover. Modern technologies may well allow such a development of events. But on at the moment you have to make do with what's available, so you have to decide for yourself.

To ensure long-term uninterrupted operation of any computer, be it a home desktop PC or laptop, it is necessary to shut it down correctly. Many novice users neglect this point, not knowing or forgetting that incorrect actions at this stage can lead to the loss of working information. And over time, it threatens to require reinstalling the operating system. Not to mention the hardware failure of your PC. This happens quite rarely, but such a risk cannot be completely eliminated.

The shutdown procedure is very simple and can be done in several ways. Let's look into the details.

You may think: why doesn’t someone turn it off? Yes, and there may be several reasons:

• the computer is sent to sleep or hibernation mode rather than turned off;
• the computer is simply not turned off so as not to waste time turning it on;
• The computer is not turned off at night so that movies or other files can be downloaded at night.

However, there are plenty of objective reasons for switching off. Below are just a few of them:

• Working modern computer A rather “gluttonous” device in terms of electricity consumption. Therefore, its aimless operation leads to a significant increase in the monthly electricity bill.
• The slight noise of the coolers of a working system unit, as well as the burning indicators of the system blog at night can interfere with restful sleep (if the computer is in the bedroom). Therefore, it is better not to download large files (torrents, movies) at night.
• It is undesirable to leave electrical appliances turned on in a house, apartment or office when no one is there.
• Long-term continuous operation computer reduces the resource of the equipment.
• All components of the system unit located in it are installed only with the power off. These are modules RAM, sound cards, processor, majority hard drives etc. C detailed device system unit we understood . Therefore, if you need to install it in the system unit additional module- The computer will need to be turned off.

Forced shutdown of the computer

Constantly using the methods described below to turn off the computer is extremely contraindicated for the “health” of the computer. However, many novice users due to ignorance the right ways handling computer equipment, abuse this manner of turning off the computer, and then wonder why their computer does not start.

Unplug the cord from the outlet... Caution!!!

The usual action of pulling the plug of an electrical appliance from the socket is not applicable to a computer. No, of course, you can experiment...

Just for the future normal functioning I can't vouch for the device!

The fact is that during operation, all the necessary data from operating system programs (you can find out what an operating system is and why it is needed at all) and documents are stored in the computer’s RAM. The hard drive is primarily used for persistent storage, and the correct steps must be taken to write data to it when it is turned off.

And suddenly turning off “from the socket” is an emergency option for stopping the computer, in which system files may be damaged, preventing your computer from starting the next time.

Imagine that you are thinking about an important task and suddenly fall asleep! About the same effect will happen with a computer.

Similar consequences may occur when sudden shutdown uninterruptible power supply. If you are not yet “familiar” with this life-saving device, then let’s briefly understand its purpose.

An uninterruptible power supply (aka UPS) can provide continuous power to your computer in the event of a sudden power failure. electric current online. Typically, it is not intended for long work, but only allows you to correctly save all open documents, close programs and turn off the computer within a few minutes. All working data will not be lost.

By the way, often in tests on computer literacy there is a question: “When you turn off the computer, all information is erased in...”

Answer: in RAM. Everything is saved on the hard drive.

Forcing the computer to shut down using the shutdown button

You can turn off a frozen computer (which does not respond to keyboard or mouse presses) by pressing the power button (also known as the power button) on the system unit and holding it down. Shutdown will occur after approximately 3-4 seconds of holding the button pressed.

It is also undesirable to abuse this method, since this shutdown option is an emergency and can damage system files and lead to the loss of information important to you.

I use it only when the computer is really hopelessly frozen and does not respond to any actions for 15-20 minutes.

Therefore, I once again draw your attention!

Turning off the computer by unplugging the plug power cord from a power outlet, a key on an extension cord, or a button on an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) without shutting down the operating system correctly will result in the loss of all unsaved data and, over time, will result in the cessation of normal operation of the operating system.

Modern operating systems will warn you about open programs before shutting down your computer.

Properly shutting down your computer

Preparation before shutdown

To ensure safety open documents and files that you directly worked with, before turning off the computer you need to perform a number of actions:

• save the results of your work in open source software Oh;
• remove the disk from the drive, if it is there;
• close running applications/programs;
• give a command to turn off the computer using one of the methods that we will discuss below.

How to turn off your computer in Windows 7 via the Start menu.

Click on the button. It's located in the Start menu:

If there are open programs and unsaved documents, after clicking the button, the system will issue a warning asking you to close the programs.

If unsaved documents are not important to you, then you can speed up the shutdown process by clicking on the “Force shutdown” button.

If the documents are important, click the “Cancel” button, save the documents and close the programs and again click on “Shut down” in the “Start” menu

Next, wait until the system unit turns off (the screen will go dark, the system unit will stop buzzing, and the system unit’s power indicator will go out). After which you can turn off the UPS (uninterruptible power supply), if available, or the power strip key.
By the way, to protect your computer, another useful acquisition can be a surge protector (), just don’t confuse it with a simple extension cord!

How to turn off your computer in Windows 8 via the Start menu

To turn off your computer in Windows 8, just click on the start button (usually in the lower left corner of the Desktop). And then click on the computer shutdown icon on the right top corner windows.

From the menu that opens, select “Shut down.”

We wait for the system unit to turn off and turn off the power by unplugging it from the outlet or using the surge protector button or on the UPS.

Alternative options

Method 1 - start shutdown by briefly pressing the shutdown button

Turn off desktop computer You can do this by briefly pressing the power button on the system unit. Next steps in case of open programs, the steps are similar to those described above.

If there are none, the computer will turn off automatically.

A short press on the computer's power button will begin the shutdown process (equivalent to selecting the Shutdown option in Windows, as described above).

Method 2 - How to turn off your computer using the keyboard

While on the Desktop, press the key combination “Alt+F4”. A shutdown window appears.

Click the “Ok” button. We wait for the system unit to turn off and turn it off

Turn off the laptop

When turning off the laptop, the methods discussed above are available, but there is an easier way. You simply close its lid. It automatically goes into “sleep” mode, and in the event of further prolonged “rest”, it will automatically turn off, saving everything stored in RAM to the hard drive. At restart computer, all data will be restored to the state it was when the laptop lid was closed. This is the default behavior of the laptop, however, it can be changed.

Be careful, your laptop may behave differently when closing the lid!

The behavior of the laptop when the lid is closed can be customized and we will talk about this in a separate article.

Automatic computer shutdown according to schedule (timer)

In your daily interactions with your computer, you may need to turn it off while you are away. For example, the process of copying a CD or hard defragmentation disk, or processing a video file takes a long time, and you need to leave or just go to bed. How to optimally organize the computer shutdown in this case?

There are several options:

• Some programs have a well-thought-out function automatic shutdown computer after completing the assigned tasks (for example, in uTorrent, Download Master);
• standard Windows tools allow you to set the shutdown automatically according to time;
• exist third party programs to automatically turn off the computer.

If you are still wondering, what is it computer programs, read .

As part of our “dialogue” we will only consider using the standard “Task Scheduler” Windows systems to organize the daily shutdown of the computer in certain time days. This is convenient, for example, for turning off the computer in the evening or at the end of the working day without your participation.

To start working with this program, go to the “Start” menu -> “Accessories” -> “Utilities”, select “Task Scheduler”.

We left-click on it and in the window that appears, select “Create a simple task...”

We call it arbitrarily, but it is clear to us, the planned action. Click the “Next” button...

We define the task trigger, that is, we set the mode of its execution.

Let's specify the time parameters.

In the next window we determine the required action. We are interested in “Running programs”.

We indicate the command to be executed and its additional parameters.

In the next window, after checking the entered data and clicking the “Finish” button, we will create a new task for the system.

Double-clicking with the left mouse button on it will open the task properties for editing.

The task will be completed at the appointed time. A minute before shutdown, the system will display a message on the screen about the upcoming shutdown of the computer. You can cancel the shutdown if you have time to perform a number of actions:

• press the key combination “Win ​​+ R” to open the window command line"Run";
• Type the command “shutdown –s” and press the “OK” button or just the “Enter” key.

The task will be cancelled. You can continue working further.

I hope that this information will help your computer to be “healthy” and efficient.