Safe Luxury

Is leaving your computer on 24/7 not safe?

I have a brand new macbook pro. In middle school, they gave us ibook G4 to take home with us. They told us to never shut it down unless we're not going to use it for a long time. They told us to just put it to sleep. Even when going to sleep at night, they said just put it to sleep. I read somewhere that, it makes it easier for hackers to hack in. Is this true? Is that just for PC? I don't know. I know macs get viruses and stuff too but it's much less than PC. Evil computer nerds don't seem to bother with macs. Should I be worried and shut down my laptop?

Public Comments

1. In sleep mode the only way a machine should wake is if you press the button, and there is no difference between shutting down and sleep on any meaningful scale...
2. No, in sleep mode there is no communication to the outside world. However, leaving it on is better than the power spike at the point you turn on the computer.