pc questions

[Sheikah42]

Hey I just have a few hardware questions -

my first one is, is turning a pc off and on bad for it? i've heard that i should just use the hibernate key and just stay away from turning a computer off as much as possible. is this true or just a rumor?

my second question is would this apply to restarting a computer too? should i refrain from that as much as possible?

my last question is formatting. since i'm running windows, i heard it's a good idea to format every now and then. but i also heard this can be bad for the computer???

thanks.

 

[giant384]

1.no it is not bad for it unless ur talking about using the switch on the front and turning on and off but if u do that wait a min then turn it back on

2.no

3. u dont really need to format unless u have alot of crap on ur computer and if its starting to slow down

 

[Sheikah42]

but formatting isn't bad for your computer either?

 

[bosox188]

No formatting is not bad for your computer. In fact it's good if you have a lot of junk on it and want to start fresh. Who's telling you that these things are bad?

 

[Sanada]

Formatting does nothing to the computer apart from wearing the HD out quicker.

I use to do it a lot but now don't bother. It's too time consuming and I hate having to reinstall all the drivers/programs again.

 

[Sheikah42]

my friend jimmy =(

 

[WhiteZero]

Formatting is good because:
Your registry gets cluttered over time.
You might have duplicate files sitting around.
You might have general crap laying around that you dont need.

 

[holydeadpenguins]

Tell Jimmy he's wrong...

 

[gweedodogg69]

1.) If you format once a week, i'd say yes it's bad because you are working your harddrive a lot more when you format (unless it's quick format lol).
2.) Leaving a PC on is good since I heard a PC is like a light bulb, the more you turn a light on and off the less life the bulb has. But in reality, most of us will be replacing a PC long before it "burns out". But if you leave on during the day and shut it off at night I don't think that is too bad that way the RAM and everything kinda "clears out".
3.) Restarting shouldn't be an issue really.

 

[Asus]

Turning your PC on and off used to be bad for it (ages ago). It isn't any more ever since the ATX standard has come about. Why? Because it used to be that when you shut your machine off, everything including your powersupply would be completely shut off and turning it on was stressful. Now with ATX there is still a circuit on in your PC and it is not bad for it at all. The 'rumor' just kept getting past along.

Now why would you want to waste power?

Although Hibernate is nice because your PC boots much quicker. It just loads your data and your set instead of starting windows all over again.

If you don't maintain your PC (not defragmenting, deleting unused files/programs, or scanning for virus/spyware) then formating is the 'quick and easy way' to start over. At least faster than actually cleaning up your PC for how bad some people let it get. The thing that gets me wanting to reformat my PC is if i have programs that were not uninstalled right or too many drivers/codecs on my machine causing issues. There are no issues with formating your PC over and over again, unless you have an old harddrive that is about to go or you have a drive that is overheating.