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SIR NASTY OF TANG on Turning off your computer

SIR NASTY OF TANG — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

What is clear is that 99% of people have a blissful ignorance as to how their pc functions...

Please explain

Nasty

ArileenDesign on Using Icons

ArileenDesign — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

can Misc Icons be used with on the desktop and with Object Dock?

Misc. Icons must be .Ico so yes to both
On desktop you'll need just to go on the shortcut properties and change manualy the icon for the shortcut
On OD, Last versions of the soft allow you to use .ico without extract the icons, just select the .ico file from OD's shortcut properties (select image)

Can dock Icons be used on the desktop?

If it's a .ico file yes if not you'll have to create the .ico with IconDeveloper or Axialis IconWorkShop
Use a 256px png to do it especially if you are on Vista or if you use IconX on XP

Misc. Icons Gallery is for .ico files (and not for .png or whatever yes i even got a .jpg once lol), to be used by user without needing a software, and can be use with DX, OD, or any others soft who can handle .ico or simply to change manually your softwares/shortcuts icons.

ArileenDesign on Turning off your computer

ArileenDesign — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

Hum, well mines are always on
I reboot them to try out Bootskins or after updates
If not, they stay on and working.

Two reasons to this:
_I don't sleep so much and live in front of my PC
_When i sleep, i just put my screens off, Antivirus analyse , Defragmentation, Spyware analyse are running during my sweet dreams

Fuzzy Logic on Turning off your computer

Fuzzy Logic — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

What is clear is that 99% of people have a blissful ignorance as to how their pc functions...

loondenhur on Turning off your computer

loondenhur — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

With my old computer, it was on if I was home. Now, with my new computer, it's on only when I am home and awake. Why did they decide that the power buttons on the monitor and the computer need to be be made with laser blue lights that could illuminate a city block? Sure it's a studio apt. but if I leave it on I don't need to use any lights at night, at all! It is ridiculous. They are so bright I can't even see the time projected on my ceiling by my alarm clock (also blue, but much less intense).

Jafo on Turning off your computer

Jafo — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

I personally leave mine on FT, with no problems. But then, I have a UPS in addition to the surge protector.

Ditto....UPS is the way to go...

Bichur on Using Icons

Bichur — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

can Icons for Icon Packager be used in Object Dock

yes, but you may have to extract them out from the .ip first, unless the icons on the dock are the default icons which can get changed when you apply iconpackager

can Misc Icons be used with on the desktop and with Object Dock?

yep depending on if the misc icon is an icon instead of a png, just have to change the manually

Can dock Icons be used on the desktop?

sounds good if it's an ico

Gideon MacLeish on Turning off your computer

Gideon MacLeish — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

Back "in the day" turning it off was a safeguard for the system. If the HD wasn't parked in the right spot, you could create irreperable damage. And by leaving it on, there was, of course, the risk of a power outage which could cause very, very bad things by not shutting down properly (This, btw, was part of the reason for those annoying "it is now safe to turn off your computer" screens).

I personally leave mine on FT, with no problems. But then, I have a UPS in addition to the surge protector.

kryo on Turning off your computer

kryo — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

I also have an extra line cord with a physical switch just so that I can "really" turn off the power. However my criteria is closer to a few minutes.

While the front power button may be subject to 'soft' ATX power, the toggle on the PSU proper is still the real deal.

I'm not positive, but I am pretty sure the CPU is inactive when powered down, and has little to no activity even during standby. The bios is what handles the power on/off requests, otherwise you would have to flip the switch on the power supply if your OS locked up.

Well it's been a number of years since I designed a PC but I am fairly certain that the processor core power stays on at all times unless you physically separate the plug from the wall.

Most new machines support S3 standby, where only the motherboard and memory are powered (at least enough to maintain the memory's contents). This contrasts with the older S1 mode where the CPU and other components remain powered, making that mode pretty useless. More on ACPI states here. I generally use S3 standby myself, due to the dump/reload times with hibernation.

Mumblefratz on Turning off your computer

Mumblefratz — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

Well it's been a number of years since I designed a PC but I am fairly certain that the processor core power stays on at all times unless you physically separate the plug from the wall. Also unless I'm totally confused the bios is basically processor boot code resident in ROM that the processor executes on powerup and therefore has no ability to do anything on it's own. There could possibly be hardware in the chipset that handles the power on request but I still believe the processor handles that directly.

As far as my attitudes about PC's they're fairly well known at least on the GC2 forum although from what I've heard this OTF is shared with 3 sites at least. Anyway I view a PC as a "personal computer" and basically want mine to sit there like a lump until I specifically ask it to do something. I hate task scheduler and so disable the service. Likewise with automatic updates and the like. I have very tight control on what I allow to execute on my machine. My normal operating services are limited to 17 which include 2 services for AV and firewall along with an open browser.

I basically am very disappointed with the state of the OS and software in general. As a hardware engineer I’ve seen processor speeds, memory and disk speeds improve by literally an order of 1000 yet in the same amount of time I’ve seen most of that hardware improvement be totally wasted by a corresponding decrease in the efficiencies of modern software. Yes we can do more now than we used to but nowhere near 1000 times more. At the absolute best our productivity is 10 times that of 20 years ago. Even that is a gross exaggeration, a more realistic estimate is double or triple. But even allowing for a 10 times net total productivity increase that means that while hardware efficiency has increased by a factor of 1000 that software efficiency has *decreased* by a factor of 100.

Certainly software today is more powerful than that of 20 years ago. There’s obviously no way you’re going to write millions of lines of code equivalent using assembly language but when I used to program (exclusively in assembly) we took pride in tight, clean, well documented code whereas today Microsoft refuses to perform any code optimization whatsoever. Garbage in garbage out.

RPGFX on Turning off your computer

RPGFX — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

I guess I forgot to add, I do turn off the monitors when I'm not sitting at the desk. I have LCD's so I don't wanna burn an image on the screen. I made that mistake with my first ever LCD.

RPGFX on Turning off your computer

RPGFX — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

I turn my PC off when...

1. I am out of town for a few days.
No point in leaving the PC on if I'm not around at all.
2. When moving
Gotta disconnect it to haul.
3. Doing serious desk cleaning
Every year or so I disassemble my work area to clean everything out
4. When there's a thunderstorm
Even with a surge protector, better safe than sorry.
5. When applying an update
Gotta reboot.

Aside from that, the machine is always on. Less stress on the electronics from the power-up/power-down crap. I keep the room at a decent temp to so heat isn't an issue.

Well, I was gonna type it, but you said it perfectly... This is exactly the same for me.

voidcore on Turning off your computer

voidcore — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

24/7 is the name of the game here a reboot is a hassle in my world

Wizard1956 on Turning off your computer

Wizard1956 — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

If you call her ugly,forget her birthday,make odd gassing noises or make fun of what she's wearing, that's a sure-fire turn-off. Oh,computer....sorry

Marvin Kosh on Turning off your computer

Marvin Kosh — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

I like using hibernate mode because if I'm in the middle of playing something I can jump right back in when I'm ready. However the performance of reawakening from hibernaton (versus a cold start + starting the game + loading your save file) depends heavily on how much memory was being used when your computer started hibernating. If the answer is 'lots' then you might as well go make a cup of tea while you wait, 'cause the bigger the hibernation file is the longer it'll take to shovel back into memory.

skybright on Turning off your computer

skybright — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

US Department of Energy "When to turn off your computer"WWW Link

Nice article.

Lantec on Turning off your computer

Lantec — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

US Department of Energy "When to turn off your computer"

WWW Link

hemanherecomes on Turning off your computer

hemanherecomes — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

No need to turn off? Leave it on.. No it doesnt consume power ..nothing it takes....BUT have you ever thought THERE ARE MANY DEVOID OF ELECTRICITY...and RESOURCES ON OUR EARTH ARE LIMITED...even a child knows then why not you ...turn every electronic appliances off when you dont need it.

SetarcosNous on Turning off your computer

SetarcosNous — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

Even when the system doesn't choose to ignore the powerdown request the processor is still kept powered up at all times if only so it can handle the power on request. God knows what else it does while on standby. I prefer not to find out.

If HAL does indeed come to fruition it won't be because of me.

I'd be more worried about SkyNet than HAL.

Mumblefratz on Turning off your computer

Mumblefratz — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

At home I use a physical switch to disconnect mine completely from the line due to the amount of lightning we get where I live. Even so I've had a handful of modems get zapped thru the phone line while on surge protectors. The system goes on as I use it and off if I'm going to be away more than a 1 or 2 hours.

I also have an extra line cord with a physical switch just so that I can "really" turn off the power. However my criteria is closer to a few minutes.

You do realize that the power switch stopped being a power switch long ago. Nowadays the power switch is merely a power down request button that the system can chose to ignore.

Even when the system doesn't choose to ignore the powerdown request the processor is still kept powered up at all times if only so it can handle the power on request. God knows what else it does while on standby. I prefer not to find out.

Whenever I'm not using my PC I disconnect power from it. If HAL does indeed come to fruition it won't be because of me.

RickJP on Turning off your computer

RickJP — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

Turn mine on as soon as get out of bed. If work day turn it off before go out and back on as soon as get home, If not at work stays on until go to bed then turn it off.

SetarcosNous on Turning off your computer

SetarcosNous — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

If you can enable it, "hibernate" is a much safer bet.

Hibernate is basically equivalent to turning it off, except that the memory and state is saved to the hard drive before it is turned off. Standby saves power instead of turning it completely off.

Which is why I said it was safer. If you've hibernated your machine, you can unplug it from the wall or go through a power failure with no ill effects. If you machine loses power while in standby, everything that was being maintained in memory is lost. You might as well have unplugged your machine from the wall while it was running as far as the system is concerned.

denyasis on Turning off your computer

denyasis — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

Its Off Whenever I'm not home or am asleep;
After All
Why wear down the parts if I'm not using them?

I just turn it on at 4 when I wake up. Auto update/various scanning is at 6 while I'm making/eating dinner and watching the evening news. Its off by 10:30 when I leave for work.

Turns back on around 7:30 when I come home and Its off and I'm in bed usually by 9 or 10.

Bushman on Turning off your computer

Bushman — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

I turn my PC off when...
I am out of town for a few days.
No point in leaving the PC on if I'm not around at all.
When moving
Gotta disconnect it to haul.
Doing serious desk cleaning
Every year or so I disassemble my work area to clean everything out
When there's a thunderstorm
Even with a surge protector, better safe than sorry.
When applying an update
Gotta reboot.
Aside from that, the machine is always on. Less stress on the electronics from the power-up/power-down crap. I keep the room at a decent temp to so heat isn't an issue.

I'll second that. These are the only times I turn my system off also. When I'm not working or playing on it I log off and unplug my modem and Philly I read that same stuff about the LCD and Image Persistence.

SIR NASTY OF TANG on Turning off your computer

SIR NASTY OF TANG — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

When the network acts up I shut off both computers, the router and cable modem for a cold reboot of the entire system

Just went Thur this a hour ago!!! I shut down for this more then any thing else I think !!!!

Scotteh on Turning off your computer

Scotteh — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

My machine at work is turned on when i arrive in the morning and switched off when i leave. I don't really consider shutting it down as i'm a programmer and literally spend all day using it.

The same applies to my home machine, i turn it on when i get in (if i need to use it) and off at night before i go to bed.

MetalHellssAngel on Turning off your computer

MetalHellssAngel — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

Jafo on Turning off your computer

Jafo — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

3 times a year...for about 4 days each....V8 Supercars, MotoGP and World Superbikes ....all at Phillip Island ....

aufisch on Turning off your computer

aufisch — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

I turn if off at night to cut down on the noise in my appartement, unless I do a full Virus-scan or a defrag, which I usually let run through the night.

hemanherecomes on Turning off your computer

hemanherecomes — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

1o1

Moosetek13 on Turning off your computer

Moosetek13 — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

Mine is on 24/7 unless I will be away for more than a day.
Sleep mode, when it works. But it seems if the Media Center processes are running it does not like to go to sleep.

It'll also get powered down if my UPS starts beeping or the network starts acting really weird.
When the network acts up I shut off both computers, the router and cable modem for a cold reboot of the entire system.

pjdark on Turning off your computer

pjdark — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

off every night. that includes monitor. not about saving energy, just about saving my energy bill.

SIR NASTY OF TANG on Turning off your computer

SIR NASTY OF TANG — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

my monitor is set to turn off after 20 minutes idle!! forgot to add that !!

nasty

CobraA1 on Turning off your computer

CobraA1 — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

If you can enable it, "hibernate" is a much safer bet.

Hibernate is basically equivalent to turning it off, except that the memory and state is saved to the harddrive before it is turned off. Standby saves power instead of turning it completely off.

Vista's "sleep" is a hybrid of hibernate and standby. It saves the harddrive to the disk in case of power failure, then enters standby.

The technical community mostly agrees that if it's in use daily, keep it on. If, however, you are away for several days or longer, turn it off.

The hard drives especially are the most fragile, and will wear out a lot more quickly with repeated on/off cycles. Motherboard and switches are fine, though, they are designed to last.

I highly recommend turning off the monitor when not in use - it's a huge power drain.

AnneMarie on Turning off your computer

AnneMarie — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

I think its more harmful to "Turn OFF" a monitor than it is to turn off your system....

Sarissi on Turning off your computer

Sarissi — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

Being disabled, and that I sleep several hours 3 to 4 times per day (due to the last time I was in the hospital for surgery - amputation of left great toe, IV antibiotics every 6 hours - I leave my main system on, although I turn the monitor off when I go get a few hours of sleep.

The only time I will turn the system off, is when I do a hardware upgrade or replacement, or, more importantly, a strong to severe lightning storm or MCC, or something takes the power out for more than a few minutes. Even if I am asleep, the UPS on the win98se box will wake me up with its beeping.

With a lightning storm, I will actually turn the UPS off and unplug everything from the wall outlet, disconnect the cable modem from the cable, and so on to totally isolate the system from lightning.

I go to this extreme cause my Tandy 2000 was zapped twice by lightning via the modem (both times). I had a roommate that sneered at my extreme measures. I told him that if he had his computer zapped twice by lightning he would be doing the same as I do. He stopped sneering.

My method of saving power is that I live without using electric lights, by wearing an LED headlamp and using NiMH batteries.

zakai1369 on Turning off your computer

zakai1369 — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

I mainly work from home these days, I live alone so usually even if I'm watching tv or something I'm still sitting in front of the pc, and I usually sleep less than 5 hours a night at which time I usually leave something running about three nights a week(i.e. defrag, antivirus) so mine normally stays on 24/7.

I have it hooked up to a battery backup with surge protector so I don't usually shut it off during a storm either unless the power goes out.

I have gotten into the habit of shutting it down one night every week or two just to give it a break. Except when I go out of town 1 month every year and leave it running because I have files and such that i need and/or want to access while away.

The monitor is a different story. I don't usually like running screensavers so if I know I'm going to be away for more than 5 or 10 minutes I shut the monitor off.

DethAdder on Turning off your computer

DethAdder — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

Weekday: Awake at 4:45AM PC turned on. Turned off one hour later when leaving for work.
Come home Approx. 4:15 PC turned on. Stays on till bed (Approx 10:00-10:30)
Weekends: Stays on.
I don't use any screensavers/hibernation/powersaving options, due to the occasional running of something and problems I've had with them in the past.

Nimbin on Turning off your computer

Nimbin — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

mine only gets turned off i we are going to be away for more than 2 days, otherwise it stays on 24/7. Oh and once every 3 months i turn it off, take the cover off and give the inside a good clean out and make sure everything is seated properly and no damaged wiring etc etc.

butch123 on Turning off your computer

butch123 — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

I turn my PC off when...I am out of town for a few days.No point in leaving the PC on if I'm not around at all. When movingGotta disconnect it to haul. Doing serious desk cleaningEvery year or so I disassemble my work area to clean everything out When there's a thunderstormEven with a surge protector, better safe than sorry. When applying an updateGotta reboot. Aside from that, the machine is always on. Less stress on the electronics from the power-up/power-down crap. I keep the room at a decent temp to so heat isn't an issue.Dittosame here!!!

Yes same for me to

SIR NASTY OF TANG on Turning off your computer

SIR NASTY OF TANG — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

same here!!!

Onikazi on Turning off your computer

Onikazi — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

I leave my computers on 24/7 unless there is a storm, only because of power outages. I should by a UPS for that, but I have other priorities at the moment.

There are several ideas on whether or not to leave the computer on. What it really comes down to is one question. Are you on your computer more than you are away from it? If you use your computer often it is better for your hardware to leave your machine on. The reason being that things like your hard drive need to spin up when being turned on, and spin down when powering off. This increases wear and tear on your moving parts and reduces their life span.

If you only use your computer for short intervals or on an irregular basis it is probably a good idea to turn it off. That will reduce your power usage and prolong the life of your hardware only as long as you are not powering on and off frequently. A computer is much like a car in this regard. It takes more juice to start your car initially than it does to idle. If you are making frequent short stops it reduces wear on your starter to leave your car running. However if you are making longer stops it is better for fuel economy and engine life to turn off your car.

Rebooting for updates is primarily a Windows function so it can make changes to the registry that directly affect the OS. Linux only needs to be rebooted if you upgrade the Kernel, or perform a major OS Upgrade such as Debian Etch to Debian Lenny or in the case of Windows, Windows XP to Windows Vista (if you consider Vista an upgrade). The majority of internet servers are Linux machines which have been known to go for periods of up to 10 years without being turned off.

Drill'n Boss on Turning off your computer

Drill'n Boss — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

What Zoomba said.
I leave it on all night while I'm at work. I run Sysmetrix and every alarm and beeper uses the same sound file, a dog barking. I turn the volume way up!

CountryYokel on Turning off your computer

CountryYokel — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

When I bought my first computer I was advised to leave it on 24/7 and only reboot if necessary, but that was 20 years ago, when I suspect none of us gave as much thought about saving energy and the environment as we do now.

The computer I am using now, which belongs to my daughter, is always shut down at night, or if we leave the house, it is over 4 years old and, touch wood, has not complained about it yet.

Night Train on Turning off your computer

Night Train — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

Ditto

erathoniel on Turning off your computer

erathoniel — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

I turn mine off every time it starts making clicking noises (laptop, HP Pavilion). About 30 hours.

I've been told that you should wait about two hours of off time to keep them from using up too much energy grinding back up and down, but I've never really heard anything about this.

Voqar on Turning off your computer

Voqar — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

I leave my home computers on 24/7 (they and the monitors go into sleep mode) unless I'm out of town. (I'm a programmer and our whole crew leaves their PCs on 24/7 whether they need to remote them on demand or not.)

You can google and find pros and cons for both scenarios that equate to neither option being clearly favorable - so it's more about personal preference. I personally spend ungodly amounts of time on my PC and I like it to be immediately available, so I've always left them running as long as I've had PCs.

Zoomba on Turning off your computer

Zoomba — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

I turn my PC off when...

I am out of town for a few days.
No point in leaving the PC on if I'm not around at all.
When moving
Gotta disconnect it to haul.
Doing serious desk cleaning
Every year or so I disassemble my work area to clean everything out
When there's a thunderstorm
Even with a surge protector, better safe than sorry.
When applying an update
Gotta reboot.

Aside from that, the machine is always on. Less stress on the electronics from the power-up/power-down crap. I keep the room at a decent temp to so heat isn't an issue.

Snowman on Turning off your computer

Snowman — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

Since I'm only using the pc a few hours each day, I switch it off when I'm not using it.
Sometimes it does remain on for longer periods of time, if I have something major going on, like downloading huge files.

jazzymjr on Turning off your computer

jazzymjr — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:07 -0400

I turn my computer on when I get up in the morning, and it stays on all day...my monitor shuts off after 15 minutes of inactivity...don't use screensavers. I turn my computer off generally after supper. Needless to say, if I am gonna be away for more than just one day, my whole system gets unplugged from the wall.