whats better?

It's better to turn it off when not in use. The hdds still have a mtbf (mean time between failure) and if they are on 24x7, then that mtbf is going to approach a whole lot faster than the 4-6 hours times 7 days per week you use it.

Put the computer in hibernation (saves current desktop to hdd) and then it shuts down. Save your power and save your hdds. And the next time you power up, everything is still there ready for you to work.

If you have cable or DSL internet connections, I firmly recommend a full shut down when the PC is not in use.

If the PC is not on, it cannot be hacked into.

As to wear and tear, standby mode places as much strain on the system as a full power down.

Chas

I also am on my pc every day 6-8 hours and i leave my pc on 24/7,i also am on highspeed internet but am behind a router and software firewall(cheap security)I may think alittle different as i am into building pc's/networks with all the cert's bla bla.If u look at any pc hardware there is lots of little wire when we turn on the power elictricty passes through those wires which creates heat which causes those little wires to expand,over time they reach normal operating temp and the little wires cool down and contract so over time with the turning off and on and the expansion and contraction of those little wires I personally think they are going throught much more stress than if a pc was left on.Ther is so many ways of looking at the on/off issue on the hardware side but the thing i like about my pc being on is automatic updates and just being able to sit down and turn on my monitor.One more thing is the hard drive issue backup ur info because ur hard drive is going to die one day.

One thing I never see on this issue is dust, having a PC on in a home environment you will find a great deal of dust build-up in a 3 month period with the PC on 24/7. If you are only using it 4-6 hours per day it would take 12 to 18 months to get the same build-up. Electronic components with dust on them heat up a great deal more than clean ones. Hotter is not better and tends to cause them to fail.

Bottom line issues:

Saving electricity/money: Yes, turning your computer off at night will save electricity/money. When I went on vacation for a month, I turned off my systems (I have several and normally leave them on). I also turned off the power to my stereo and TV. My savings over normal was a whopping $10 for the month.

Wear and tear: Like a car's engine, electrical components experience their greatest stress (and chance of failure) during the power up procedure. This is more likely to cause shortening of lifespan than leaving components running in a steady (maybe hibernation) state. I'm sorry. but using MBTF as a guage to component longevity is non-sensical. MBTF is just that, a mean among all other examples of the samecomponent. This is not the same thing as saying a component ONLY has X hours of life.

Security: If you are a broadband user, and your home computers are properly protected behind a firewall, your computers are not more vulnerable during the hours you aren't using them as they are when you are using them.

Dust: If your computer exists in an extremely dusty environment, clean it more often, or get some inexpensive filters for the air inlets.

Therefore, it really comes down to personal preference. If you want to save some electrons (or a few bucks a month), by all means turn it off at night. Your computer is likely to be obsolete (by many years) before it wears out from being left on. If you like the convenience of "instant-on",you have your answer.

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