Should I Shutdown My Computer? (Or Server, Or Router, Or Phone?)

You “shutdown” every night; why shouldn’t your computer?

Let’s be honest, you probably don’t shut your machines down as much as you should. But how often should you be shutting down or at least restarting?

I get asked this question almost daily. Computers are just like us; they get tired, worn down, overloaded with information and just downright overwhelmed. Who doesn’t like a nap when times get stressful? Everyone loves naps. So just how often should you be letting your equipment shutdown?

Should I shutdown my computer (or server, router, phone)? How often?

Computers:

When determining how often you should be shutting down your machine, you need to look at how much you use your computer.

For instance, from Monday – Friday for at least 8 hours a day, I am on my computer (nerd). Because of the high hours I am putting on my machine, I shut my computer down every night.

Don’t worry, not everyone stares at a computer screen as much as me. If you use your computer once a day, say in the morning, shut it down when you are done.

The same rules apply if you rarely use it. If you use your computer more than once a day, say once in the morning and again at night before you go to bed, you can leave your computer on overnight and shut down after your morning session.

Servers:

Servers are without a doubt the workhorse of the technology industry. So just how often should we let these beasts sleep?

Although servers appear to be similar to computers, there is a big difference in their sleeping habits. I like to run updates on my server once a week and reboot the server once all the updates are in and the employees are off the network.

If you don’t let everyone off the network beforehand, you can expect to find some hate-mail in your inbox, trust me.

Routers:

Routers can be tricky. How many times have you reset your router and your internet “magically” became faster?

There are a handful of reasons why your random restart actually worked the way you wanted it to. Without getting too nerdy, the external IP address of your router changes (how often depends on your service provider). If this address changes, and your router can’t quite keep up, a reboot will have you looking like a tech administrator in no time!

Another reason your router may need rebooted is because there is too many devices connected to it. Imagine fitting 20 people into a car – it just doesn’t work (not gracefully at least). Your router is the same way. The more devices connected to your router, the bigger the router you’re going to need.

Phones:

Turning your phone off at night has no advantages.

Actually, switching your phone off, and then restarting it will use the same amount of power as it takes to leave it on all the time. So, restart your phones and tablets as needed.