Computers are such an integral part of our lives nowadays, but they don’t need to be an excessive contribution to our high electric bills. I am an advocate for turning your computer off at the end of the night. There is much debate about the appropriate way to handle turning your computer on or leaving it off. There are a couple of reasons for turning it off, and in this article I will expand on those reasons.
image courtesy of flickr user: LivingOS
2) Turn your computer off to protect it from harmful viruses and spy ware. These days if a computer is connected to a network, then it is under attack from a multitude of viruses, malware, trojans, and spyware programs. These programs can infiltrate your hardware and software and cause devastation on a massive scale. If you let these programs on to your computer, then you may have to eventually pay a pretty penny to have your computer wiped clean. You can avoid that problem, for the most part, with virus protection software and firewalls. However, these malicious programs have tricky ways of working around protective measures and programs. You can minimize the chance of a malicious program getting into your computer by turning it off when you know it is not going to be used for a significant amount of time. Let us say you leave your computer on when you go to work. While you are at work and your computer is connected to the internet your computer is being blitzed and barraged with all kinds of harmful programs. Most of them are blocked, but some of the will not be. Turn off your computer to minimize the risk of infection.
In conclusion I am a big advocate of turning your computer off instead of leaving it on, and you should be too. Turning your computer off will save you money on your electric bill. It will also significantly reduce the chances of your computer getting a virus or other nasty infections. It is in your best interest to turn your computer off when it is not in use.
