is it bad for your computer to never turn it off?

I can see both sides of the argument. If you're going to turn it on first thing in the morning, there might not be any point in having to shut it down just so you have to reboot it every morning. On the other hand, it's nice to give the computer a rest. I like to turn off my computer every night. It gives me a sense of closure--the feeling that my day is truly complete and that I can really go to sleep. I also think it's good to save power and to let the computer rest. Sometimes my wireless services gets sluggish when I've left the computer on for too long--probably a sign that my good 'ol laptop is tired! :)

I always turn mine off at night as they can get overheated. If I am only going to be away from it for a short time I leave it on "Stand by" then it does not use too much power.

The main issue is the hard drive. It doesn't last forever, and the more it's used, the sooner it will fail. My computer is on pretty much 24/7. I share my processor in the Gomez PEER network. Not that they use it 24/7, but I leave it on for them anyway. I reboot it once in awhile, sometimes just to help it "wake up." Of course it will do so anyway after a bit of activity, as I keep my Windows nice and stable, but a reboot is usually faster. I make frequent image backups of my whole hard drive (not just individual files) with Acronis True Image, and save certain ones to DVD. When the time comes for me to replace my hard drive, it will only take me an hour or less to restore Windows, all my programs, and all my files; not days. :)

I use to leave my computer on all the time. I just figured that since it goes into sleep mode it would be just fine to leave it on all the time. Well this past fall, I had to replace the fan in my computer because it had burnt up. Everytime I went to get on the computer it would be on for just a short time and then would totally shut off on its own,(while I was in the middle of working on something..grrr...lol). Well the man at the place where my computer gets worked on said that I should always shut the computer off at night. He put it to me like this, "do you leave your car run when not using it", if he were to ask me that now, I would tell him, "heck no, do you know how much gas cost"..lol Anyhow that is what I think, you should shut it off.

I say no because it takes more work for your computer to reboot. It is better to just leave it on all day and evening. Plus, since you are on the computer all the time, it is just a waste to turn it off for only what, 5 hours.

I usually turn off my pc to lessen electric consumption

They only problem that relly can arise is that you run out of RAM, in that case you could just reboot or download a RAM optimizer that does basiccly the same thing as a reboot.

I don't think it is exactly bad for your computer to leave it on all the time. But it does waste electricity, as computers do use a fair amount. I would have my computer on for about 12 hours a day.