Shut down or not?

[Jane2]

Posted: 5/18/15 at 11:24pm

This is about computers. I hardly ever shut mine down at night. Is it better for the computer to shut it down once in a while, every night, never?

[javero]

Posted: 5/18/15 at 11:50pm

For a system with a version of Windows OS installed I recommend shutting it down only once a week for a very brief period to permit the system to recover some resources.  If you turn it off each day, as my dad does against my advice, you run the risk of missing out on critical system updates which are automatically downloaded onto your computer and installed at 3:00 AM by default.  You can change that schedule for updates but it's on you to ensure that your computer is running and online in time for the scheduled updates.  The last time I checked on my dad's computer he had critical updates backed up several months and it took me forever to manually download & install all of them.

Hope this is responsive & useful...

Updated On: 5/18/15 at 11:50 PM

[HorseTears]

Posted: 5/19/15 at 2:10am

Don't worry, I'm going to contact Microsoft support about this tomorrow - they are surprisingly responsive - but since Jane started this thread, might as well throw this one in here.  

 

Toshiba Satelite P50 laptop

Windows 8.1

Computer's been unable to install Windows updates since whenever the last one came through.  

When it's time to restart I hit "update and restart".

The PC seems to go through all the steps for installing the updates, but then I get this message:

Error: We couldn’t complete the updates, Undoing changes. Don’t turn off your computer.

 

The PC then restarts normally with no issues, but the latest Windows updates have not installed.  Been like this for more than a week.

 

No need to direct me to any Let Me Google That For You results.  Just wondering if others w/ Windows 8.1 have experienced this and whether any of the (seemingly dozens) of solutions offered online worked for you. 

[Jane2]

Posted: 5/19/15 at 8:56am

I guess I should have mentioned that I use Macs. That shouldn't matter, though, should it?

[Kad]

Posted: 5/19/15 at 9:45am

Nah, you should shut down your computer (and other similar electronics, such as smartphones) once or twice a week, regardless of OS. Shutting them down closes unseen background processes and long-running programs and essentially gives the computer a refresh.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 5/19/15 at 9:52am

It is always advisable to shut down your computer from time to time. Regardless of model, operating system, brand, etc.  Computers -- even desktop computers -- were not built to constantly run and/or only "sleep." 

[Jane2]

Posted: 5/19/15 at 10:03am

Thanks, guys. That's what I had a feeling was right. And that's what I've been doing!

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/19/15 at 5:27pm

Windows 8.1 is horribly buggy.  After one of the updates, my Windows Explorer started crashing and resetting, closing all of my open folders about every ten minutes.  I finally did a refresh that fixed the problem.  Until about a week later when it installed the next automatic update.  Now it happens again, but about once an hour.  I'm hoping Windows 10 will be better.