Is it better to shut downa computer or leave it on when not in use?

Yeah leaving a computer on is not a good idea.It is more likely that a hacker will try to affect computers that are on for extended periods of time.If they try to tack you , you won't be there to stop the invasion on your computer.Keeping your computer off during non use not only saves on electriciy but helps keeps your personal informaion save from thiefs.

i think you shoud shut down your computer if it takes rather than to leave it on for whole day you may also hibernate your computer rather than shutting it down so as you can again start your work form previous session . keeping on your computer is simply wastage of power also

Since I am pretty much always on my computer I just keep it on when I am not on it which is when I am sleeping. It dosnt take up that much energy.

I leave 4 computers in my home on 24/7 my computers make money for me while I am sleeping so I have a reason to leave them on when I am not personally using them. also as mentioned in the previous post. antivirus gets updated at night scans are done daily, windows updates are downloaded and run while I am sleeping. so I am not waiting for them to complete or if a reboot is needed it does it automaticly while I am sleeping and I will see that when I get up in the AM.

I was once told by a computer tech that it is best not to shut them down everyday. He said it causes wear on the processor. I don't know if that is true. I know that when I am not using my computer, I will press the "sleep" button on my keyboard. That way I am not really shutting it down and restarting it so much. I will restart it if it starts to lag or hang up when opening or closing a program, which is about once every 2 days or so. If you have a always on connection, it is better to leave it on and let your FIREWALL protect your computer from bots and zombies. I use Zone Alarm. It is much better than the firewall that comes with windows. In my opinion, it really doesn't make any difference if it is left on or not. It just saves me time from having to boot up my computer everyday. Which can take what seems like forever. Also, if I leave it on all the time, I have my anti-virus run full system scans for any viruses that may have been picked up along the way of surfing. I set mine to do full scans while I am asleep. It is also a real good time to let the automatic updates check and install updates too. That way the time you have on your computer isn't being interfered by updates and scans and won't be slowing down your computer while you are on it.

It is better to shutdown the computer because it saves the power and life of the computer ,if do not like simply stayby the computer.