Tech Myths Busted: no. 3 – You should shutdown your computer every night

Truth: You really should.

You will save power if you shutdown your computer at the end of the working day. It’ll also stop the fans from sucking in dust during the night.

Another advantage is that a regular reboot can resolve many computer niggles (it’s a cliche, but “have you tried turning it off and on again” – really does help).

Having said that, starting up a computer puts a lot of wear on some of the components, especially the power supply and the hard drive (unless you’ve made the switch Solid State Drives). And, leaving your computer on means it’s ready for instant use.

A good compromise may be to just set your monitors to turn off after 10 minutes, or just turn them off manually before you head home. Setting your PC to sleep or hibernate are also good options to save some power whilst keeping the computer in a state that will allow it to wake up quickly when you need to use it again.

NEXT TIME: Are Apple computers immune to viruses?