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Message: <blockquote data-quote="buzzard" data-source="post: 2799667" data-attributes="member: 3003">Yes and no. Hard drives undergo the most wear when spinning up, so not staring up a hard drive often is a good thing. However, keeping up the low level spin does some wear and tear. It's really a matter of how often you turn it on, and how often you use it. Also if you put the HD into sleep mode, that's no better than turning it off. Most of the hardware failures in computers are HD related (the primary problems encountered in computer support are user error, and OS problems caused by said user error), so that's the primary concern. I've worked in desktop machine repair and support a fair amount, and I can tell you that the solid state electronics are very rarely the culprit when it comes to computer problems. Actually I guess the power supply is probably the next most likely thing to kick off on PCs, and they are probably a bit sensitive to a lot of on/off. However they are even more sensitive to power surges, so a good surge protector is far more important than you leaving it on. Another thing to consider is if you leave a machine on all the time and it is connected to the internet, you could be courting trouble. I leave my Mac on all the time connected to the internet, but it is behind a firewall (or two), and I keep it very patched. They are appreciably more secure than your average XP box, so I don't feel there is much risk in that. My XP games box (games being the proper use for a widoze based machine) turns off when I'm not using it, and rarely if ever is used for web browsing or checking email. buzzard</blockquote>

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