general question

[turbo24]

I would like to know what the general consensus is about leaving the computer on all the time, like 24/7, versus putting the thing into sleep or standby. Which is better for it, or is there even a difference to what it does to your system?
The system we have at my work is left on 24/7 and they have a backup program set to run every night. I tried to tell my boss that putting it on standby would be ok, that the computer wakes itself up to preform the backup. She didn't want to make any changes to the way it was being done.
Fine, but the computer seems to be really lethargic at times and i was wondering if one had anything to do with the other. A bit more info on the lethargic part; the hard drive has almost the entire space UNused so its not that its over-cramme with stuff. I check the system resourses and they always seem to be doing okay. The thing goes thru the whole defrag and other set up maint. programs as set up by the schedule, so i'm trying to figure out if the cause could be that its left on all the time. One thing i noticed that bugs me is the mouse's movements. Its settings are set okay and I've removed the ball and cleaned it out but it didn't help. The mouse is very delayed in its movements and very jumpy. Like i am forever clicking the wrong thing because its so jumpy. it drives me nuts! What could be causing that?
One more thing is i heard something about the windows 98 having some sort of memory leak or something when its been running too long. Whats all that about and could that be something affecting this system?
I don't have a lot of technical info i can give you except it windows 98SE, 128MB, and it the main computer on a 3 computer network. (if that makes any difference)
Any thoughts or, hey even if its not relevant, info to share so I may learn new stuff?
thanks guys.
turbo

[Theoran]

I generally shut it down at night because my wife won't get on it until midafternoon so there really is no point in leaving it on and having all your commputer parts moving if you aren't using the darn thing. I don't see a problem with leaving it on for a couple of hours while you run to the store but I always turn it off before I head to bed.

[jmtjet]

By your discription I would say that the computer in question needs to be re-booted.In theory, you should be able to leave a Windows 9X system on 24/7. But the resources will run down and you'll start getting sluggish behavior and lock-ups. If she feels it's totally necessary to leave it on 24/7 plan on doing at least 1 re-boot during the day. I personally think it's better to shut down at night and re-boot in the morning.