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From: mlinar@eve.usc.edu (Mitch Mlinar)
Newsgroups: comp.misc,comp.terminals
Subject: Re: Does Turning off PC's everyday do any real damage?
Message-ID: <7647@oberon.USC.EDU>
Date: 15 Mar 88 03:48:28 GMT
References: <1727@ssc-vax.UUCP> <3174@phri.UUCP>
Sender: news@oberon.USC.EDU
Reply-To: mlinar@eve.usc.edu (Mitch Mlinar)
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
Lines: 22

In article <3174@phri.UUCP> roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith) writes:
>dmg@ssc-vax.UUCP (David Geary) writes:
>> I am interested to know, from a TECHNICAL viewpoint, whether
>> or not it causes any damage to turn a PC off everyday.
>
>	On the flip side, every hour your PC is powered off is one less hour
>it's exposed to potential power-line uglies.  With any kind of decent surge
>protection, though, I'd say that this is of pretty minor significance.  If,
>on the other hand, you know that you routinely get massive surges in the
>middle of the night, it might be worth considering.

There is a bit more to this than just turning it off.  You need protection
against massive surges caused by power-line drop-out/reactivation due to
lightning or one of those mylar balloons hitting a power pole.

During last year, my close community of friends lost 2 PCs during an electrical
storm and another during a "mylar balloon attack".  All were plugged in, had
surge protection, AND WERE OFF!!

If you see an electrical storm coming, unplug your computer.  Mylar balloons
are another problem (use a shotgun or missile launcher? :-) :-)).

-Mitch