Shut it down, or leave it on?

It’s a question we get a lot – should you shut down your work PC at the end of the workday, or leave it turned on?

Managed corporate IT environments have scheduled maintenance tasks such as antivirus scans and updates, disk maintenance, and software patches and security updates – some of them critical. Most of these tasks require system resources (RAM, CPU, etc) and will slow down the PC as they run. Therefore, they are usually scheduled to run after hours, while you’re not using the system.

So, if the system is off when the scheduled task is set to run, one of two things will happen:

(1) The task will be missed, causing the system to miss critical updates and thereby leaving the system less secure.

(2) The task will run when the computer starts, causing the system to run poorly for a time after it boots, typically during the busiest part of the day, and causing frustration for the user.

So, the answer is: Leave it on!

To secure your system while you’re away, you either log off your Windows account, or lock the system. Both of these actions can be done by pressing ctrl+alt+delete, or through the Windows menu. Also, if power consumption is a concern, most systems are set to shut the monitor off after a period of inactivity, but you can also manually turn the monitor off while you are away.

Hope that helps!

-The NetWatch Team