Re: Turn computer off? Or leave on?

Here are a couple of things I found while doing a quick google search on the
subject.
~~~~~~~~~

Windows 95/98 has a bug in one file that will cause your computer to freeze
after 49.7 days of continuous use. This means that you should restart your
computer at least ONCE A MONTH to avoid this problem. But since Windows
95/98/ME and programs like Internet Explorer (the web browser) are not very
stable to begin with, your computer will probably crash or freeze long
before 49.7 days anyway.

When your computer does freeze or crash, it is always better to restart your
computer to clear the RAM and remove any remnants of crashed programs.

Since electrical parts can be weakened or damaged by heat, leaving your
computer on all the time means that the parts will always be warm, thus
shortening their life spans.

The memory (RAM) becomes fragmented with use. As you open and close your
favorite programs, little bits and pieces of your program stay in RAM and
are not completely eliminated when you close them. Eventually, your 64
Megabytes (or whatever) of RAM becomes so "chopped up" that you cannot open
large programs or data files anymore, or they open very slowly. We've seen
computers that took about 30 seconds to a minute to respond to the click of
a mouse button. This delay time would drop to about 2-3 seconds upon
restarting the computer.

Because Windows 95/98/ME takes so long to start, your computer will always
be ready for you to work on if you leave it on all the time.

Because electrical parts can be damaged by the shock of the electricity
being turned on, you should try to reduce the number of times you "cycle" on
and off your computer. (This is why light bulbs fail more often than not
when you first turn them on.)

Electrical parts expand and contract with temperature which can cause
failures over time. If they are left on, they will expand and contract much
less. In fact, a problem with your computer can sometimes be "traced" to a
very small break in the copper tracings or wires on a printed circuit board.
This break will disappear as the board expands with heat, so your problem
may go away if you leave your computer on for a while.

~~~~~~~~~~

I think in terms of answering a question such as this from your customer,
you would do well to not offer OPINIONS, but rather FACTS. Give them the
pros and cons of either scenario based on the operating system, type of
internet connection (security), time it takes to boot, and how the customer
uses their machine.
--
Captain Lon

All your base are belong to us.



"smackedass" <> wrote in message
news:ljPke.9984$ ink.net...
> Hello again,
>
> What do you recommend? And/or, what do you do? And, why?
>
> My customers keep asking me this, and I'm ashamed to say, I don't have any
> solid answers.
>
> My stock reply: it doesn't make much of a difference, although I wouldn't
> leave it on ALL the time, or turn it off every time that I was done using
> it.
>
> Thanks, again, in advance.
>
> smackedass
>

Captain Lon