Photo credit Tom Raftery

I’m an IT guy. I love my (Mac) computer. Most other IT people I know love their computers too, be they Mac, Windows or *nix based. Of course you would when you are typically working on them 8+ hours per day.

We take pride in our computers – how fast they are, the latest software/widget we installed, etc.

One boast I hear people come out with regularly, is how long it has been since their last computer re-start. This can be a measure of just how stable the operating system is – if it hasn’t crashed or needed a re-start in weeks/months then it must be really stable! This is an way-of-thinking which needs to change, quickly.

The problem with this, of course, is that it means people are not shutting down their computers and are therefore needlessly consuming electricity (using more energy and emitting more CO2).

Modern browsers remember all the windows/tabs you have open when you quit them so there can be no reason for not shutting down your computer every evening.

Shutting down, mind you, not simply putting it to sleep.

And not just the computer either, the monitor (if you have an external one), the printer, external drive, etc. – all the peripherals.

Having all your devices plugged into a power strip with a switch allows the power to be cut to all of them in one easy go.

The badge of pride now should be how long it has been since you left the computer on overnight – obviously longer = better!