Computer questions

My wife like to constantly shut down and reboot her computer. She boots it up, uses it for however long she needs to check her email, Amazon.com shopping, etc etc and then she shuts it down. 30 min later, 1 hr later, etc etc she reboots it, uses it and then shuts it down again. She says it allows the computer to rest.

I tell her this is more detrimental to the computer than to leave it on in sleep mode. She complains sometime in sleep mode, when she touches the keyboard or moves the mouse to wake it to go to the log in screen, it freezes up.

What do you think? Is this constant shutting down and rebooting and shutting down bad for the computer? I know one of y'all here must be a computer geek.

I myself leave my laptop on for days at a time, plugged into an APC power surge/backup system. When I am not using it or I'm not at home, it's on the log in screen waiting for my password.

If it's just a few hours or even overnight, it's usually more efficient to put your computer to sleep, either by clicking the Power button on the Start menu or by closing the lid on your mobile PC. (Some computers also have a dedicated sleep button on the computer case.)

There are several advantages to choosing sleep over shutting down:

All your work, including information about the programs you were using such as window location and size, is automatically saved.

When you awaken your machine from sleep, you don't need to restart programs or reopen files as you would if you had shut down the computer.

While Windows does use some power in sleep mode, it's very small: about one-tenth as much as it would need if you left the computer running. A mobile PC typically uses 1 to 2 percent of battery power per hour in sleep mode.

When Windows is asleep, it can still download and install updates and perform other routine maintenance tasks. For this reason, some companies require employees to put their computers to sleep rather than shut them down when going home for the evening.

But there are instances when you should shut down your computer fully—for example, when you install a new memory card or other hardware. If you don't plan to use your computer for several days or more, you should also shut it down.

Thanks Mrs Aural:

I am trying to read what you wrote but your avatar is very distracting.

I personally leave my computer on sleep mode unless I don't use it for a significant amount of time. Think multiple days.

It's probably a good idea to fully shut down the computer every other week or so. The power cycling your wife does, however, is likely detrimental to the computer and will shorten the lifespan of it's power supply.

I would have it put to sleep during the day, then shut down once the day is over. Best of both worlds.

Leaving your laptop in sleep mode while plugged in isn't good either. You're eating away at the battery bit by bit, which will shorten the lifespan of the battery. Best to unplug it until charging is needed.

I've got some ridiculously large PDF file sizes. Anyone know any freeware I can use to compress them without losing too much image quality?

Sharky wrote:

I've got some ridiculously large PDF file sizes. Anyone know any freeware I can use to compress them without losing too much image quality?

Been downloading PDFs of Mayfair, Hustler, Cheri and Club International?

http://blog.nitropdf.com/2008/02/5-tricks-to-shrinkreduce-pdf-file-size/

That's not helping, unfortunately.

For the first one (PrimoPDF):

Quote :

Open the PDF file
Open the Print dialog
Select PrimoPDF from the list of printers
On the PrimoPDF dialog, click eBooks. (Or to manually control the level of downsampling, choose Custom.)
Click OK.

I don't have the "eBooks" option, wherever it's meant to be.

For the second one, I don't have either Nitro PDF Professional or Adobe Acrobat. Both of which cost £. I just have Adobe Reader 9.

Try this

http://tv.adobe.com/watch/acrobat-x-tips-tricks/quick-tip-how-to-compress-a-pdf-file/

I don't have Adobe Acrobat X.