UC Davis Information & Educational Technology

Bits & Bytes

Computers Need To Sleep Too

Published in the Aggie on November 17, 2004

In class, on the bus, at the grocery store, in the morning, in the afternoon, at night: every waking minute you're thinking about… sleep. Most college students are familiar with the “I'll sleep when I'm dead” philosophy, which works fine for short periods of time but may also explain the curious phenomenon of students spending an entire two days in bed after submitting a term paper. It turns out that sleep is pretty important, not only for stressed-out college students, but for your computer as well. The only difference is that your computer can't take a nap on the Quad to recover from an all-nighter; it needs you to decide what's best for it, which includes tucking it in at night, letting it rest while you're in class, and even giving it permission to take an occasional weekend off when you're not going to be around.

Save Power, Save Money

It used to be that turning your computer off and on could damage some of its critical components, but with increasingly reliable computer parts, doing this no longer puts your system's performance at risk; nevertheless, many people are still under the impression that leaving their computers on for days at a time is the recommended strategy for minimizing wear and tear, which poses another concern—electricity.

If you're thinking, “My computer doesn't use that much electricity,” you might be right. A computer uses less electricity than a microwave, but you don't run your microwave for hours at a time. Add up the amount of time your computer is on and multiply that by the millions of other computers across the globe. That's enough electricity to keep your cappuccino machine going for years! Put more simply, not turning your computer off costs you money.

If you still insist on leaving your computer running, at least consider turning off some of the accessories (monitor, printer, and speakers) and take advantage of the sleep or power-saving mode offered by most new computers. This cuts back on the amount of electricity used.

Is It Time to Say “Goodbye”?

If your poor old computer appears to be suffering even after a nap, you may need to grant it permanent sleep and say “goodbye” forever. The Obsolete Computer Systems List at http://computerownership.ucdavis.edu/ will tell you which computer specifications UC Davis considers burnt out; for example:

  • Operating System: Windows 98 and ME
  • RAM: less than 256MB
  • Hard Drive: 10GB or smaller
What to Do With Your Old Computer

Before you get rid of your computer, you should erase the hard drive. For Mac computers, use the “Secure Empty Trash” feature and visit http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=152060. For PCs, there are two popular downloads: PC Inspector e-maxx ( http://www.pcinspector.de/emaxx/uk/welcome.htm) and Eraser ( http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/). Once your computer is clean, you can take advantage of one of several options. (Note that computers contain hazardous materials and should not be thrown away.)

  • Trade it. Although you have bought what you thought was the newest, coolest, snazziest computer, a year later an even newer, cooler, and snazzier version comes out. HP and other computer companies often let you trade in your old computer equipment and give you a discount on your next purchase.
  • Donate it. If you plan to get a new computer and your old one is still functional, give it to a school or contact a nonprofit organization like the Cristina Foundation ( http://www.cristina.org), which will help you find a local charity in need of technology.
  • Recycle it. If your computer is ancient and would be of no use to anyone, making the difficult decision to euthanize it may be the kindest option for the environment as well as for the computer itself. Yolo County will take your CPU and keyboard for free and will recycle your monitor for $12-18. See http://www.yolocounty.org/recycle/crt.htm.

Computers can have a harmful effect on the environment, and you don't have to be an environmental activist to want to help minimize their impact. All it takes is making some responsible choices on a daily basis; start by giving your current computer some time off and taking your old one to the nearest school rather than the nearest dumpster.

This column is provided to you by the student writers of Information and Educational Technology. For questions and comments, please contact ietpubsjr@ucdavis.edu.

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