Turn off your computer

April 2008

Turn off that computer

Contrary to old wives' tales, shutting down your computer each day will not cause damage.

Our own IT guru, Ryan Carter, confirms that shutting your computer off is the right thing to do to save energy, extend the life of your machine, and improve your system’s performance. File back-up procedures take place at the server level each night and are not affected by turning off the power at your desk.

Turn your monitor off if you are gone for 15 minutes or more and shut down your computer for durations of 2 hours or more - and certainly over night.

Every PC left on 24-7 over the course of a year results in more than 1,000 extra pounds of greenhouse gases. Since there will soon be 1 billion PCs in the world, turning off your computer regularly could prevent the annual release of hundreds of millions of tons of global warming gases, saving billions of dollars in the process.

What about Power Saver Mode?

Don’t use power saver mode on the MELG computers. Our current operating system and network-based applications do not handle that function well. Advanced Power Management features may not work properly and could cause connectivity issues on our systems with database applications such as Imis.

This is a problem with many Windows XP and Windows Vista systems, so be cautious about utilizing that feature at home as well. Until Microsoft smooths out the bugs, it’s recommended to merely turn off your computer each night.