Not Powering Off Your Workstation – Common Computer Problems

Power off. At the end of the business day, unless your IT department has specifically instructed you not to do so, you should power your work computer off completely. Even if the IT department has told you not to leave your computer off overnight, you should still power down before you leave work for the day.

It’s one of the most common computer problems, but it’s important to be mindful of this habit. If your IT department has told you not to leave the power off, make sure to turn it back on before you go (this is called cycling the power).

Avoiding Common Computer Problems by Powering Off

Computers use memory to process actions at the users’ request. Some of the applications we use to effect those requests write information to memory, but when they are done with it, fail to remove it from memory (this is called a memory leak). Cycling the power on your computer forces all the memory in use to be emptied, clearing it up for future use and increasing the speed and availability of memory for other applications to use.

Almost all applications have some sort of memory leak. From the very minor for well established applications like the Microsoft Office suite, to much more major leaks from extremely memory-intensive applications such as AutoCAD or 3DSMax manager. End users can’t do anything to fix the leaks that are already present in these applications, but we can reset the severity of the leaks by powering off our systems or cycling the power at least once per day.

This is just one of the common computer problems that you can to avoid to help ensure that your work computer operates the best it can for you and the business you work for.

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