do you turn your laptop off every night?

[miss missy]

or put it in sleep mode? or what???? I just cant decide

 

[catycatcat4]

i all ways turn mine off

 

[M&M's]

I turn off the laptop AND unplug the power supply.

Even with everything off, the power supply still pulls some juice if plugged in. I'm not sure how much money I'm saving, but for a few seconds work, it's too easy for me not to do.

 

[BeamsofLight]

I turn off the laptop AND unplug the power supply.

Even with everything off, the power supply still pulls some juice if plugged in. I'm not sure how much money I'm saving, but for a few seconds work, it's too easy for me not to do.

I do this too. I worked out how much it was in terms of kW usage and all at one point. It's not a huge savings but I'll take it. Edit: They crunch some numbers over here, though your mileage may vary, of course. Plus I don't have to worry about a surge taking out my power supply.

 

[Sosai X]

I just hibernate mine. Leaving the power adapter plugged in uses a tiny amount of electricity, I have never worried about it. But if you have a desktop PC and you leave it on all the time, it uses a far greater amount. The average PC has a 450 watt power supply. So imagine running your microwave all day and all night, uses the same amount of power.

 

[jjpenguin]

Turn it off!!!

Although it might only use a tiny amount of electricity just consider the fact that there are millions of them in the country, together this is a huge amount of power and resources going to waste.

 

[GBShorts]

I used to put mine in sleep mode but with my new one, the combo of Vista and how much RAM I have causes the computer to spontaneously restart when plugged in if I try to put it to sleep or hibernate. Very obnoxious.

Now I shut it off.

 

[mikelan6]

I turn mine off every night.

 

[jcb]

I leave my computer on - certain diagnostic services run during some nights and, depending on your settings, updates are downloaded. I also like having it on if I get up in the night.

If you turn off your computer you might want to check your task schedule to find out when your computer runs the services - default for one (defrag) is Wednesday morning around 1 am. Virus definition files are sometimes downloaded during the night.

The default for updates is to check for updates everyday at 3 am (you were asked this when you first turned on your computer after purchase). MS, however, has gone to a second Tuesday of the month (now called "patch Tuesday) update release schedule - but it will release an update out of schedule if there is a significant problem, as occurred just a week or so ago.

There is some debate about the need for defrag anymore - I do it because it won't hurt and it makes sense. Updates, however, are crucial so make sure you are not preventing them from occurring. In Vista, look for Windows Update under the control panel or the programs menu and it will tell you when it last checked for updates and then click on "change settings" to see your update schedule.

This doesn't mean you must leave your computer on - just make sure you manually check for updates regularly (click the link to bring up your windows update page) or have your computer set to check during lunch time etc. when the computer will be on.

And, if you have one, always follow the direction of your IT department. Bad things happen when you upset IT.

 

[luke]

I hibernate and take out the power lead.

Although my laptop has an annoying tendency to restart rather than whatever you tell it to do (be it shut down, hibernate, sleep etc) so i have to wait for it to be off fully before i slope of to bed

 

[simonkodousek]

I just close mine, which puts it in sleep mode. After a few hours, it will automatically put itself into hibernate mode. I leave it plugged in all the time.

 

[GBShorts]

I hibernate and take out the power lead.

Although my laptop has an annoying tendency to restart rather than whatever you tell it to do (be it shut down, hibernate, sleep etc) so i have to wait for it to be off fully before i slope of to bed

This is the same problem I have. Do you by chance have 4 or mor GB of ram? Windows has stated that it takes too much work to shut down allte programs on computers running 4GB or more of ram when going into hibernate or sleep mode, so these have been disabled. I've been told Microsoft is going to be fixing this at "some point", I just don't know when.

 

[IWISHFORDISNEY]

Turn it off.

 

[Cyrano]

Turn it off!!!

Although it might only use a tiny amount of electricity just consider the fact that there are millions of them in the country, together this is a huge amount of power and resources going to waste.

Ditto

 

[zulemara]

I usually leave mine plugged in to charge fully since I tend to wear it down during the day. I'm talking about my laptop, not a desktop.

If I don't need it on for some reason though, I will shut it down, not put it into sleep. After so long, sleep turns into hibernate on my mac and although I used it all the time on my PC, I don't like using it on the mac. I'm just weird.

I will say that since I got rid of my desktop, my electric bill has dropped considerably even though it has gotten colder and I have to use more heat.

 

[Bell30012]

If I'm going battery, I shut down. Otherwise, I just close the lid which turns off the monitor.

 

[luke]

This is the same problem I have. Do you by chance have 4 or mor GB of ram? Windows has stated that it takes too much work to shut down allte programs on computers running 4GB or more of ram when going into hibernate or sleep mode, so these have been disabled. I've been told Microsoft is going to be fixing this at "some point", I just don't know when.

Only 2gb of ram here, running Vista Premium on a Dell laptop, it's not a real hassle, just don't want any further problems to come from it (not that i can foresee what?). Oh well, it doesn't happen all the time

 

[hanco005]

I also turn mine off at the end of day.

 

[miss missy]

I turn off the laptop AND unplug the power supply.

Even with everything off, the power supply still pulls some juice if plugged in. I'm not sure how much money I'm saving, but for a few seconds work, it's too easy for me not to do.

Nope, I am not plugged in when I am done for the night. The puter is on battery at that point, so electric is not the issue. My concern is having to wait for everything to load up every day when I turn it back on. I hardly ever use battery when I am on, it is plugged in.

 

[DLBDS]

I turn mine off.