Foo - How often do you reboot your Mac?

I know a bunch of Windows-to-Mac developers who tell me they have to reboot their iMacs (OSX 10.5.2) every day due to software updates. I told them I dont believe them. They said they'll call me next time it happens. They haven't called me over yet.

How often do you reboot your Mac and why? Tell us what Mac and OS version you're using too.

EDIT: ps f*** dell for installing vista (but good on them for moving to linux) and super f*** ms for giving us this pos os.

not often. yesterday was the first time in a few weeks, and that was only because i had some new updates.

Desktop: Once every week or two mostly since logging off gives FileVault a chance to do some cleanup. That takes long enough that I just shut down the computer on Sat afternoon if I don't plan on working on Sunday. And fire it back up Monday morning. Every few months, I'll manually check for software updates when going about this process. Haven't bothered upgrading past 10.3.(whatever we're at now) yet.

Laptop: Once every few months, for software updates. Grudgingly accepted 10.4.(whatever we're at now), where the Mail window is no longer as configurable as it used to be. (I prefer the list of mail folders to be on the right side since my general preference is to have my working window on the left and palette-like stuff on the right. Before, the user decided. Now, it must be on the left side.)

I'll probably upgrade both eventually to the latest operating system (inertia may make that 10.6.x), but I'm in no hurry.

Back when I used a DP Power Mac G4 (up to 10.3.9, though 10.4.x was out), I tended to reboot about every three or four months. Generally didn't need to, really, but something always came up after about that length of time, be it a power outage, needing to move cords/the computer, or fiddling with the innards.

At work, I check weekly to see if all the Macs are caught up with updates. Every month or so I'll reboot them into single user mode and run a fsck on their drives. Yes, there are graphical tools to do this, but being an old time UNIX person, I just like knowing the filesystems are checked while unmounted and not being written to.

Windows machines, I check updates weekly, and reboot them about every other week, with chkdsk /f ordered on startup.

Quarterly, I update machines, reboot them, then on the Windows side, run MBSA and print out the results. Macs, I do some manual security checking, although I wish Apple would have a security adviser/patch checking tool. This is mainly for peace of mind/due diligence reasons. I can always say that as of this date and time, all machines were audited and found clean of any known malware, at the latest patchlevel, and security settings are up to spec.

I'm running 10.4 on my Mac mini. I reboot if it ever starts lagging, which, so far, has been about once per month or two. Heh, just re-reading that last sentence makes me love my Mac so much! :)

I reboot my computer several times a day. Not for updates or anything, I just turn my computer off whenever I leave my apartment.

I reboot my computer several times a day. Not for updates or anything, I just turn my computer off whenever I leave my apartment.Does your computer have the ability to enter a sleep mode? It'd be quicker to power it back up when you need it (if the boot time bothers you), and a computer in suspend/standby (S3) mode uses very little energy.

I restart when I update. Happens maybe once a month or so.

Does your computer have the ability to enter a sleep mode? It'd be quicker to power it back up when you need it (if the boot time bothers you), and a computer in suspend/standby (S3) mode uses very little energy.

Sorry, but that thinking is so 90s. Obviously S3 standby mode is much better than leaving it on all night, but the idea of it being OK for a device to use just a little energy when not being used is proving to be short-sighted. Huge amounts of electricity are wasted every day by electronic devices sucking small amounts of energy when they are "off." I believe there are initiatives to get electronics manufacturers to design devices to really turn off and not suck juice.

TV 'sleep' button stands accused (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4620350.stm)

Eliminating "standby" electricity loss from home appliances could save up to 25 percent on electrical bills, study shows
(http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2001/02/09_energ.html)

Edit: I just found a chart that said "typical" energy consumption of a computer in standby (S3) mode is 10W, and "typical" energy consumption of a computer turned completely off (hibernate or shut down) is 9W. So it turns out that S3 is not much different from turning the computer "off." I guess to be really green I would need to completely unplug my desktop at night. http://media.scout.com/media/forums/emoticons/rolleyes.gif

Think of the carbon!

Not feasible in a corporate system. Computers need to be on to complete updates during non work hours. Having a green pc is sometimes as green as you are going to get.

If I bought a Mac I'd boot myself many, many times a day. :D

I see the pinwheel-0-death at least twice a week.

I see the pinwheel-0-death at least twice a week.

What does that mean?

^^^
Mac's version of the hourglass icon. I've only had to reboot once or twice because my mac locked up, when a process hangs it's very easy to kill just it.

I reboot once a month or so for software upgrades.

I can't even remember the last time I downloaded any kind of software update.

I have a MacBook Pro laptop so I reboot it every day -- sometimes 2 or 3 times a day. When I'm not using it I turn it off.

Maybe once every couple of weeks when I run an Onyx maintenance thingy.

The Linux server, only when I upgrade the kernel
The PC, I reboot to switch to the Linux side or if I've installed a new driver. Else, I have my machines doing something for me all the time. I did go to more efficient power supplies in them.

only when there's an update that requires it or when i'm changing from OS X to Windows (or vice-versa, of course).

it's a MacBook Pro 15", if that matters to the question.

i just plug it in overnight every couple days and when i'm using it (if there's an outlet nearby).

I see the pinwheel-0-death at least twice a week.
I guess Macs REALLY are superior to PCs. I've only seen the pinwheel stay on for a long time once. That was when I was installing some crap software I downloaded from the internet.
When I had my PC I saw the hourglass stay on all the time.


FYI: My Mac turns on in ~20-30 seconds and off in ~10-15 seconds.
My PC would take ~6-8 minutes to turn on and ~3-5 minutes to turn off. :crash:

Sorry, but that thinking is so 90s. Obviously S3 standby mode is much better than leaving it on all night, but the idea of it being OK for a device to use just a little energy when not being used is proving to be short-sighted. Huge amounts of electricity are wasted every day by electronic devices sucking small amounts of energy when they are "off." I believe there are initiatives to get electronics manufacturers to design devices to really turn off and not suck juice.Believe it or not, but power-sucking-when-off electronics bug me as well. Most of the lesser-used items in my entertainment center are plugged into a separate power strip which I flip off when not in use. Other devices that I rarely use (like my laser printer) stay unplugged until they're needed. I miss devices having a big, satisfying physical switch to shut them off, and I hate the current trend of devices having a bright red LED to inform you that the item is currently "off".

That said, I use my computer often enough that convenience has won out over some power usage. Putting it in sleep mode overnight, to me, is a good compromise. Especially considering that if the thing was quieter, I'd probably leave it on all the time... :p

Hey X it was kind of lame of me to call out your suggestion of standby mode in a thread where most people seem to be bragging about keeping their computers on for weeks on end. http://media.scout.com/media/forums/emoticons/rolleyes.gif It was just an opportunity for me to preach. http://www3.christianforums.com/images/smilies/preach.gif

And yet I was preaching to the choir. http://www.dbstalk.com/images/smilies/preach.gif

Hmm, my biggest interest is in eliminating our dependence on imported oil, but I just read that coal is by far the largest source of fuel for power plants. In the U.S., coal-burning power plants are the largest source of CO2 emssions, more than cars. So this is more of a global warming issue, as well as dependence on a fossil fuel that will eventually run out.

Hey X it was kind of lame of me to call out your suggestion of standby mode in a thread where most people seem to be bragging about keeping their computers on for weeks on end. http://media.scout.com/media/forums/emoticons/rolleyes.gif It was just an opportunity for me to preach. http://www3.christianforums.com/images/smilies/preach.gif

And yet I was preaching to the choir. http://www.dbstalk.com/images/smilies/preach.gif

Hmm, my biggest interest is in eliminating our dependence on imported oil, but I just read that coal is by far the largest source of fuel for power plants. In the U.S., coal-burning power plants are the largest source of CO2 emssions, more than cars. So this is more of a global warming issue, as well as dependence on a fossil fuel that will eventually run out.

Coal is a relatively dirty fuel even compared to dino juice. However, the reason its so popular is that its relatively cheap, and because its not imported (yet), its not subject to the insane prices of oil.

I just find it ironic that it wasn't long ago when we were beset by ads touting how good natural gas is, compared to electric. Now, an all electric house is a lot cheaper than using gas for heating (in Texas that is.)

Perhaps long term, the best idea would have an all electric house (so one can offset energy with solar), and a gas to electric generator that is engineered for low noise. If electricity prices goes up noticeably, have the generator run 24/7.

Not feasible in a corporate system. Computers need to be on to complete updates during non work hours. Having a green pc is sometimes as green as you are going to get.

+2 million. I have a command that runs to make sure every machine returns to life at midnight if the user turned it off when they left work that day just to make sure we can access the machines.

My baby is a 15" Macbook Pro running OS10.5. It updates software nearly each week but only reboots once a month or so. In March it was twice because the software update needed to reboot, but otherwise I never have to reboot her. I get the beach ball of death now and then but only with Safari. My wifi is usually good, but now and then there is some interference.

Otherwise I am glad I have a Mac. My best friend has a HP computer and complains hourly about it. I keep telling to come over to the darkside, we have punch.

I reboot my iBook G4 about once a week or whenever it gets too laggy -- usually after editing a bunch of photos or video.

Whenever it starts acting wonky. Usually every other week.
I leave it in sleep mode and don't turn it off.

I have a MacBook Pro laptop so I reboot it every day -- sometimes 2 or 3 times a day. When I'm not using it I turn it off.

I don't understand. The way I read the above is "I have a MBP therefore I reboot it every day - sometimes 3 times a day".

Are you implying a connection between rebooting an have a MBP?

Would Safe Sleep be easier than a shutdown/reboot cycle on Macbooks? I've never used that feature personally, but if I got a Macbook, I definitely would use it.