I currently have an old PC in the basement that I setup in 1999 to share my Internet connection. It has 2 Ethernet cards and Sygate. (3 user)
I need to have more users.
Sygate is $150 for 5 users but I wonder if I should get rid of the old computer and hub and replace it with a router like the Linksys BEFSR81. It has 8 ports.
What is the difference in firewall protection?
Thanks, Curt
I used to be a Sygate kinda guy. They make a nice product but a router is so much more convenient.And while you're at it, get yourself a printer server. Then everyone can print whether or not the computer connected to the printer is on.
No need if you leave your computer on all the time.
Running up the electric bill, and generating unnecessary noise, and heat.
If one uses his/her computer only a few minutes, or only a couple of times a day, turning it off and on might be ok, but for those of us who use the computer frequently, throughout the day (and night), or who have 'always on' connection, and applications that run all the time, it is worth the cost to leave them on. Computers that aren't power (and thermal) cycled often WILL last longer and give less trouble. Only individual users can really make a reasoned choice between powering on only for use, or leaving the computer on, but in a reduced power mode, all the time. Mine is turned off only when I must do hardware changes.
Fred Langa just revisited this issue and after tests and input from other others, has determined that it's become largely a matter of personal choice. Components are reliable enough these days that the wear and tear associated with turning a machine on or waking it up from hibernate isn't enough to be worth the worry anymore.
When his tests include 40 years working with literally thousands of different computers, then I might give them credence. However, the delay indicent in rebooting, or waking from hibernate (if indeed it DOES come out without a reboot), is reason enough for me to avoid this solution. Much depends on one's economic status, and the way in which the computer is used. If your usage is an hour in the evening to check email and the weather, and news, then surely, it makes sense to power it off. If you use the machine off and on through the day, and have scheduled events at night, then leave it on. Neither usage should harm the machine, and a 'sleepy' system will use about as much power as a clock radio.
Well, they do for all intents and purposes. We're talking about consumer technology here, not legacy systems used in business before anything was affordable. He's been writing on PCs for 25 years -- good enough for me.
Even all that aside, the only results/benchmarks that matter are the ones done with *today's* equipment. We all know hard drives were flaky five years ago, and nobody had computers 40 years ago, so how's that relevant?
With laptops and other mobile devices starting to outsell standard desktops, it's soon going to be a moot question for many consumer users anyway.
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