I always turned my computer off when I left the room. I remember in my childhood my father saying, as I mosied out of the room with the light on. "It's obvious you don't pay the bills around here!" Anyway, Recently, I came out of the closet as a flight simmers a couple of friends of mine of many years in the hope they could help me. They both said that given the amount of time it takes you get that thing running we don't know why you bother. I though to myself just goes to show you two know nothing since in real aviation you spend far more time on the ground getting ready than you do in the air. But they had a point. One of my friends suggested leaving the program running in the back ground. But I pointed out this thing is eating watts with just the GUI on screen. Perhaps some of you do that, I don't know. I have often seen articles that say never shut your computer down and never read any of them.🤣 But I do recall the late great NickN used to day he never shut his system down and I always thought he was referring to hot, cold, expansion, contraction being bad for the contraption which my engineering history confirms. Getting to the point did you know that even mid flight that if you go to the start menu and put you PC to sleep, when you wake it up you will be able to resume that flight from where you left off! I beat some of you didn't know that. I know I didn't until I discovered it accidentally.

Less coffee. More sleep. 😀

I never understood the folks who claimed leaving the PC on was a better option.  People try to make a case for stability and longevity, lol.  I've built computers since 1995 and never once left them on unless they were doing something.  If I went to bed or work or out for errands, they were turned off.  I've had many systems run for 10 years that way.  I honestly think leaving them on reduces their lifespan tbh.  But if you're aiming to "pause" the flight, then by all means, leave it running.  🤷‍♂️

Our fridge is running again 😞

 

No further discussion of climate change or the topic will be locked.

Moving to Hangar Chat.

You can hibernate your computer : power is off !
Switching your computer on will reload everything, including your flight.

You can also unplug your computer, move it, replug, restart when you want and fly again.

I switch my PC off every night. Never had an issue with doing that in 30 years of using one.

Living in a part of the country where pop-up thunderstorms are a possibility on almost any summer day, I would never leave my computer running when I am not  here. In fact, when I leave for work each day, I disconnect the AC power cord and the Ethernet cable that goes to my router. Over the past twenty years I have twice had computers severely damaged by the EMP effects of nearby lightning strikes. 

In winter, I don’t typically disconnect it, but I always shut my PC down when not using it.

Edited August 14, 20232 yr by JRBarrett

I always shut down my PC when not using it for any length of time. Power consumption is minimal at idle, what with all the power saving features modern systems have, but the consumption does add up over time, so no point leaving it on. 

Expansion and contraction of components is not an issue, temps are very low at idle, so barely any different to shutting down. The only two possible issues re expansion and contraction that I can think off are thermal compound creep over time, but that occurs due to load/idle cycling, nothing to do with shutting down and is rarely an issue. The other issue is connectors working lose over time due to expansion and contraction, but again, that's an issue with load/idle cycling, not shutting down the PC and again, is rarely an issue.

It also depends upon what we mean by "shutting down". I've had a couple of issues (one recently) with PSU inrush thermistor failure. The inrush thermistor helps mitigate the sudden inrush of current the PSU capacitors experience when we switch on the PC after it has, not just been shut down from Windows, but switched off at the mains socket too. When we switch off at the mains socket, the capacitors become fully discharged over time, and then there's quite a surge when we next power up. Its the thermistors job to deal with this eventuality. Some believe that  its a good idea to leave the PSU plugged in and turned on at the wall, but just shut down within Windows, in order to reduce stress on the inrush thermistor. Personally, I'm undecided regarding this practice. Over many decades of owning and building PC's, I've only had failed inrush thermistors twice, same manufacturer both times. So in my opinion, off at the wall socket is fine, and if the PSU is designed properly it shouldn't be an issue. However, if I'm in the house, I do leave it on at the wall. 

 

Edited August 14, 20232 yr by martin-w

OK, topic now "fixed".  There will be no more talk of taboo subjects! 

13 hours ago, FBW737 said:

I always turned my computer off when I left the room. I remember in my childhood my father saying, as I mosied out of the room with the light on. "It's obvious you don't pay the bills around here!" Anyway, Recently, I came out of the closet as a flight simmers a couple of friends of mine of many years in the hope they could help me. They both said that given the amount of time it takes you get that thing running we don't know why you bother. I though to myself just goes to show you two know nothing since in real aviation you spend far more time on the ground getting ready than you do in the air. But they had a point. One of my friends suggested leaving the program running in the back ground. But I pointed out this thing is eating watts with just the GUI on screen. Perhaps some of you do that, I don't know. I have often seen articles that say never shut your computer down and never read any of them.🤣 But I do recall the late great NickN used to day he never shut his system down and I always thought he was referring to hot, cold, expansion, contraction being bad for the contraption which my engineering history confirms. Getting to the point did you know that even mid flight that if you go to the start menu and put you PC to sleep, when you wake it up you will be able to resume that flight from where you left off! I beat some of you didn't know that. I know I didn't until I discovered it accidentally.

It's important to note that keeping your computer on without shutting it down or not restarting can cause some issues. Specifically, if you have selected the fast startup option in the power options settings, any errors (big or small) will remain in the memory. This can lead to potential hidden problems and performance issues due to the constant storage of these errors in volatile memory. Ultimately, the decision is up to the individual, but it may be worth taking into consideration. 

Edited August 14, 20232 yr by LRBS

Seems I missed all the fun!🤣The point is that if you are running MSFS and on the ground or in the air (I don't know I haven't tried it) and you go to the start menu and put the system to sleep i.e. Virtually turn it off and then wake it up you can be back in the flight in seconds rather then 10 minutes.

I switch my computer off every night, and I turn off the power strip. If I have too many applications open (for example, while editing AFCADs), I may hibernate my rig, but the power strip still goes off.

I don't trust the electric company here: during summertime, it's not unusual to have a blackout every two weeks; and it's neither unusual to to last more than 20 minutes. Last summer I got a couple of 4-hour blackouts.

17 hours ago, Luis Hernandez said:

I switch my computer off every night, and I turn off the power strip. If I have too many applications open (for example, while editing AFCADs), I may hibernate my rig, but the power strip still goes off.

I don't trust the electric company here: during summertime, it's not unusual to have a blackout every two weeks; and it's neither unusual to to last more than 20 minutes. Last summer I got a couple of 4-hour blackouts.

Here's hoping your computer is not plugged into the power strip! 🤔

I should have explained better, Charlie 🙈: either if I hibernate or shut down my PC, I turn off the power strip. At least the one I've got has a mechanical on/off switch with some kind of a surge protector. With this, the circuit should be open when turned off, or am I understanding something wrong (and thus, I've been lucky)?