are you suppose to turn  computer off when it storms bad?
606935
any wire can carry a charge, and a thunderstorm can hit any wire outside your home.... so if your computer is connected to 1) a power outlet or 2) any other wire such as phone or broadband, there is a risk that lightning will hit the right line outside and send a gigantic current to your computer (destroying it)... so yes, unplug your pc completely (leave the keyboard and mouse...)
53391
A General rule of thumb is that if you have no good reason to leave your computer on don't.  You will lessen the chances of your computer being influtrated if it is not on 24/7.  However, you can leave it on if you wish but ensure that you have taken the proper precautions:\n1) Have an anti-virus program  (i suggest PC-Cillin by trend micro)\n\n2) Have a good Firewall program\n\n3) Have good proactive spyware program (i suggest Spy Sweeper by web root)
617158
A good surge protector will normally take care of any problems. However, I had a lightning strike in my back yard and it blew out my entire pc even with surge protector. I recommend shutting off your pc during a thunder storm.
1105528
I never turn mine off. as i run BOINC 24/7\nI set my moniter to turn off after 1 min. to save power when i am not around
399475
it doesn't seem normal.  I always unplug my computer during lightening storms and never have any problems.
652781
here mizmel try this one \n\nits a little secret \n\ngoto your "start bar" then your "control panel" \n\nclick "system"\n\nclick "Advanced"\n\nclick "Start up and recovery" then click settings \n\nthen under "system failure" uncheck "auto restart" and click apply\n\nlol this wont turn your computer off if it farks over pretty bad, it will display the error message.
471788
No, you can always turn off or restart your PC.  It's good to keep the cable modem on, however if it does go down it will resynch on it's own most of the time.
477381
Mainly there are two types on maintenace you need to perform. One of the posters has it correct that you need to keep your Windows patches up to date, since they usually fix security flaws. Anti-Virus software is nice to have, but if you do not download or execute unknown programs and all you do is surf the net, you truely do not need one. Defragging is good to do but you really only need to do it once a month or when you uninstall a large program of some sort.\nThe second type of maintenance is physical. Dust collects inside your computer, so peridoically you will want to open your computer and used compressed canned air to dust off your computer. DO NOT use a towel, since this will create static eletricity and that is bad. Only use canned air. Another poster said to turn off your computer when you are not using it and that is not recommended. The thing the uses the most eletricity is the monitor and all you have to do is just have that turned off when you are not using it, but you would want to keep your computer on almost at all times. The reason for this is that when you turn on your computer everytime, a jolt of eletricity goes through the motherboard and doing this on a consistent basis will wear down your computer alot and will make it more siceptible (sp) to the motherboard crashing. Keeping on the computer itself, not including the monitor, does not use that much eletricity.
634893
turning your computer completely off and back on again by clicking start > shutdown fixes many offline and online computer problems.
829354
Don't touch anything metal that is connected to the outside - i.e. plumbing, wiring.  \n\nMake sure you unplug your computer and tv sets (and anything else electronic) because a direct hit close by will fry the circuits in these things - or at least get some good surge protectors if you forget to unplug or aren't around.
244583
If you have a good surge protector, that is one that not only protects the power, but also your modem line or cable, and you have backups, you are reasonably safe.  If not, it would be best to unplug your computer from modem and power.\n\nTo those who say that it is absolutely unsafe to be online during a thunderstorm, do you all think that every business with computers shuts down during thunderstorms?  Of course not.  They just take precautions.  If the home user does not have adequate electrical protection, then she would be wise to disconnect her computer.  If she has adequate protection, then surf away and have fun!
42366
It depends on the way your computer is set up and how much you use it through out the day. If you don't use your computer everyday, it might be safer to turn it off (and make sure you do a proper shutdown, such as using the start menu if you are on a Windows PC). As for not booting up correctly, there might be bad entries in the registry, or bad/damaged sectors on the hard drive (easily caused by too many impromper shut downs). If you can't figure out how to tell if you do or not, you may want to look for a reputable service center in your area that can help you find out. However, if you use your computer quite a bit, and you just want to turn it off to save power, but not have to wait for it to boot up everytime you need to use it, you may want to look in the control panel under the power options to see if you have support for a hibernation and/or standy-by mode. By using stand-by or hibernation mode, it will help to save on utility costs compared to leaving the computer fully powered on, but it will not require a actual "start up" when you go to return from the stand-by/hibernation mode.
1096939
There are two schools of thought on this subject and both are correct in their own reasoning.\n\nOne side says shut down your computer because you will wear out the bearings in your hard drive. Which if you are just an occasional user this would be good advice.\n\nThe other side says leave it on or let it hibernate because the repeated temperature fluctuations of turning on and off the computer will crack the solder joints on the board. Which if you are every day user would also be good advice.\n\nWhich way to go? That would be up to you.
520484
Depending on how much you "strain" your computer, the RAM will get more and more fragmented thus the performance will get worse.\nIf you don't need your computer running at night time, shut it down! This will save energy and spare the components.\n\nThere is still a common misbelief that turning the computer off and on will lead to a higher power consumption caused by the boot process. Not with todays computers!
689954
Turn off the computer.
521620
Try to turn it off and if that doesn't work, call the place u got the computer from.
384330
You can go to Start->Run and type in msconfig and then go to startup and uncheck the stuff that you don't want to start up when you turn on your computer. Be careful what you uncheck.