power off ???

[J911J]

should u power down , when finished with your pc , ?????

some say no ???

i always power down , i also shut off my surge protecter .

what is the best , thing 2 do ??????

[Mobius1]

Yes, why not? Some people leave their systems running for days thinking that the expansions and contraction of components from different thermal conditions is damaging, but in reality, the wear on them from this is negligable because they're designed with it mind.

Turning off your surge protector is fine as long as you remove the plug from the computer or the socket. Otherwise, it's just as vulnerable to a surge, since a surge can occur whether or not the system is on or off.

[qapmoc]

Yeah but..... a surge protecter absorbs surge voltage pulses which appear on the power supply lines. They do this by diverting the voltage surge to earth/ground and attempting to stop the voltage on your whole power system rising too high. What this means is that a surge protector attempts to protect everything in your house so you should always leave all surge protectors ON at all times. And if the surge is too high for the protector to survive then it is better for the surge protector to go bang than your TV+HiFi+Video+ etc......etc....

[tomd]

Unless you're living in the country and running off a generator, or living in a country with a fairly ropey power supply you shouldn't need a surge protector anyway.

[qapmoc]

Tomd, obviously the city you live in never has lightning strikes anywhere near it power supply system under any circumstances ? You may not be aware of voltage spike surges on your supply network but I bet your Electrical supply engineers are.