Discussion Forums > Technology
13 Things your computer person won't tell you
costi:
--- Quote from: iindigo on December 07, 2008, 02:25:20 AM ---Not bad, but...
--- Quote from: rd.com ---8. Give it a rest. Turning off your computer when it's not in use saves energy and clears out the RAM, or temporary memory, which would otherwise slow your machine over time.
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I think this highly depends on the OS you're running. On Windows, sure, I'd agree with this, but I've kept OS X and Linux systems up for months on end without even a hint of a performance decrease.
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According to Microsoft, Windows XP requires 2 weeks downtime per year...
However, we have computers at work that see no downtime whatsoever (the place I work at is manned 24/7, so it's just one person logging out and another logging in) and they work like a charm (Win XP). Other haven't seen a reboot for years, but those are a special case, because there's only one or two apps running on each constantly (things like antenna controller software).
The oldest ones, running DOS, have been running 24/7 for the past 15 years.
--- Quote ---Is this commoner computer stupidity only rampant in the US or has it infected other nations as well?
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No, they're everywhere.
--- Quote ---I was under the impression that the constant change between power states (on and off) was as hard or harder on computers than just leaving them on. Am I wrong on this?
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Nope, you're completely right. However, the changes in lifespan are negligible, so it's safe to assume that whether you leave it on all time, or shutdown frequently, the lifespan will be more-or-less the same.
--- Quote ---I don't blame people for being ignorant though. Spend over $100 on Windows and look what you get as the instruction manual.
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There's Help, which covers a lot of stuff. Apart from installation instructions and basic troubleshhoting, an electronic Help is a better solution, because it has a nice function called "search" ;)
I got a 450-page manual with my Nikon D300 - you have no idea what a PITA it is to read such a thing, even though Nikon did a decent work of keeping stuff organized. Thank God DSLRs are made to be intuitive, and that manufacturers don't make revolutionary changes between models, makes it much easier to sort out stuff yourself.
sdedalus83:
--- Quote from: costi on December 27, 2008, 10:24:33 AM ---According to Microsoft, Windows XP requires 2 weeks downtime per year...
However, we have computers at work that see no downtime whatsoever (the place I work at is manned 24/7, so it's just one person logging out and another logging in) and they work like a charm (Win XP). Other haven't seen a reboot for years, but those are a special case, because there's only one or two apps running on each constantly (things like antenna controller software).
The oldest ones, running DOS, have been running 24/7 for the past 15 years.
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If you're running a limited set of apps, don't install/uninstall a lot of software, and have the page file on a separate partition, I can't see why you would ever need to reboot an XP system, short of a virus or hardware failure. The way Windows handles virtual memory by default is the biggest reason for problems with file fragmentation, which in turn is probably the biggest reason for system instability, especially when your page file is scattered all over a severely fragmented drive.
iindigo:
--- Quote from: sdedalus83 on December 27, 2008, 03:56:36 PM ---If you're running a limited set of apps, don't install/uninstall a lot of software, and have the page file on a separate partition, I can't see why you would ever need to reboot an XP system, short of a virus or hardware failure. The way Windows handles virtual memory by default is the biggest reason for problems with file fragmentation, which in turn is probably the biggest reason for system instability, especially when your page file is scattered all over a severely fragmented drive.
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I agree, but that doesn't really describe the average PC user. I know my little brother (who is more computer literate than a lot of people) is constantly installing and uninstalling programs (mainly games) because he either gets bored with them or is trying to free up space to install some other game he's taken an intrest in. I think it's also safe to say that most don't even know what a swap file is, let alone know to have a separate partition or small drive reserved for the swapfile.
sdedalus83:
--- Quote from: iindigo on December 27, 2008, 04:17:09 PM ---I think it's also safe to say that most don't even know what a swap file is, let alone know to have a separate partition or small drive reserved for the swapfile.
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Of course, which is why MS advocates extensive downtime.
I can understand why they used dynamic VM back when a big HDD was only a few GB, but now that storage so cheap, why isn't a dedicated swap partition created by default during installation? Maybe they're worried that people will erase it or use it for storage by mistake.
iindigo:
--- Quote from: sdedalus83 on December 27, 2008, 05:28:18 PM ---
--- Quote from: iindigo on December 27, 2008, 04:17:09 PM ---I think it's also safe to say that most don't even know what a swap file is, let alone know to have a separate partition or small drive reserved for the swapfile.
--- End quote ---
Of course, which is why MS advocates extensive downtime.
I can understand why they used dynamic VM back when a big HDD was only a few GB, but now that storage so cheap, why isn't a dedicated swap partition created by default during installation? Maybe they're worried that people will erase it or use it for storage by mistake.
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They could just make Windows hide the swap partition by default, or heck, manufacturers could include a small internal flash drive (2-6GB) expressly for swapfile use.
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