My
Computer--Should I Turn it Off?
We've all heard that it's "bad" for our personal computers to turn
them off at night. Let's label that one an "urban myth." In truth,
it doesn't harm desktop computers to turn them off at the end of the work
day, and in fact, doing so could save UTSA hundreds of thousands of dollars
in energy expenditures each year!
That word comes from Associate Vice President for Information Technology Jeffrey
W. Noyes, who recently sent a memo to members of UTSA's Energy Conservation
Committee in support of a "Watt Watchers" suggestion that energy
consumption could be cut down by cutting off desktop computer work stations
overnight and over the weekend.
When members of the Energy Conservation Committee brought the issue to Noyes'
attention, he had Information Technology staff conduct a random survey of
338 Tri-Campus computer users. Of those, 247 employees reported that they
do turn off their computers at the end of each work day. Approximately 27
percent leave them on.
Figures computed by Information Technology show that by turning off computer
work stations overnight and on weekends, users could potentially save the
Tri-Campuses 128 hours of electricity use per week. This would mean an annual
savings of 6,656 hours per year for each work station. And since the university
has about 5,000 desktop computer work stations, which cost about a penny each
per hour to run, the total amount of electricity usage cut per year could
be as much as 33,280,000 hours for a savings of up to $332,800 in electricity
costs.
"Based on the monetary savings alone, Information Technology is recommending
that all desktop computer users shut down their work stations when they are
going to be away from their work areas for at least four hours," said
Noyes.
But the financial savings is only one aspect. "There is the conservation
of energy usage, as well," said Rene Colunga, UTSA utilities/project
management engineer and member of the Energy Conservation Steering Committee.
"If UTSA and other businesses throughout the San Antonio area and the
state adopted the policy of shutting off desktop computer work stations at
the end of the work day and work week, the power usage savings from this one
area would be substantial," Colunga said.
"We need to look at any reduction in usage that, over time, could keep
San Antonio and Texas from becoming subject to rolling power blackouts now
being experienced in California and other areas. This particular savings is
so easy to achieve... there is no additional equipment to purchase or install,
no retrofitting of systems. Just flip the switch," Colunga said. "Each
day, as we begin our personal and business routines for closing down our work
stations and offices, just remember to, 'Give a flip, and our costs will dip!'"
Other benefits of shutting down your desktop computer work station when it
is not in use include:
Software Updates and Improved Operation
Each time a Tri-Campus user logs on to the university network, the virus protection
and other network utility software on their work station is updated. Information
Technology receives updates to virus protection software on almost a daily
basis. So, if you don't turn off your work station for an extended period
of time (days or weeks), you do not have the latest virus protection information
and network utilities. In addition, MS Windows goes through some internal
housecleaning chores when it is shut down and restarted. To keep your work
station in top form, Information Technology advises users to shut it down
and restart it daily.
Security
Turning off your work station makes it absolutely secure from any network
hacker attack. Information Technology makes the UTSA network as secure as
possible within our operational guidelines. However, there is always the possibility
of a hacker penetrating the network and gaining access to work stations and
servers on the network. Hackers are particularly active at night and on weekends,
so turning off your work station protects it and your files from hackers.
Protection from Power Surges
Turning off your work station also protects it from electrical power surges
and most of the conditions that occur on power lines that can physically damage
equipment. Also, if a power interruption occurs when your work station is
turned on with a file left open, however brief, chances are fairly high that
the file will be damaged beyond use. This includes MS Word documents. Even
if no files are open, there is a strong possibility that Windows itself may
become corrupted by power interruptions, requiring a complete system reload
and resulting in the possible loss of all of your files.
The Facts and Fiction of File Back-up and the I-Drive
As a point of clarification, Noyes wants users to know that Information Technology
does back up the entire contents of all user and departmental I-drives every
night. Contrary to popular belief, however, if you leave your work station
on all night, Information Technology will not copy them to the I-drive for
you and then back them up. Users must move their files to the I-drive for
this purpose. Also, if you leave your work station turned on and an I-drive
file open all night, that file will not be backed up. The backup utility will
not back up an "active" file. So, if you want files backed up, move
them to the I-drive, and shut down your work station nightly. Because storage
space is limited, Information Technology requests that users take advantage
of this feature only for critical files.