I just bought a new home computer system. I use it everyday. Some people are telling me to shut it down when not in use. some say no leave it on. some say just shut monitor off. some say just just cable modem off. what do you do ? what should I do ?

my computer and modem stays on 24/7

you should reboot a Windows computer atleast every day or two to reset everthing in Windows. as far as leaving it on it realy doesnt make a differnece on the cpu but i would turn the monitor off when not in use it will last longer. If you have a cable or dsl modem i would turn the computer off when not in use unless you are running it with a router or firewall to prevent people from hacking your system.

Two schools of thought. One turn it off and the components wear less, Second leave it running as the on/off is harder on the system. In reality it doesn't matter much. Do what makes the system more accessible to you, our home system stays on 24/7. As far as the cable modem, you shouldn't even use it without a firewall, ours and the firewall are always on. The monitor should automatically "go to sleep" to conserve itself and power when not in use. As far as the resetting Windows, this really depends on what the use is and what you are running. The NT based windows OS's (NT 4, W2K, and XP) are much better at running without regular reboots. We operate W2K servers for months without a reboot with no loss in performance or stability, others we auto reboot daily. Make sure to perform windows updates regularly, at least once a week to ensure all security patches are in place, had everyone done this there would have been no blaster worm spread at all.

It doesn't matter it will be obsolete long before it wears out! Shut it off and save the electricity.

I think Raypanic said it best.

Don't shut off the cable modem. That needs to stay connected.

Just make a sleep mode so everything shuts down if you don't use it for an hour. My monitor goes to a black (that's my screensaver) screen if I dont touch the mouse for 15 minutes.

Leave it run. Windows will crash once a day so you'll always need to reboot.

When you power up, turn on the cable modem first and let it get a signal. Then turn on the computer so it picks up the IP address from the modem.

Like Speedgirl, I just leave it on 24-7. Doesnt hurt em!