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MSU-Northern students, faculty and staff - Use the ITS Help Desk as the first point of contact for your technology problems, questions & services!

Information Technology Services Help Desk
Walk-in Support:
   Cowan Hall 117B Telephone Support:
    265-3765
E-Mail Support:
    itstech

Power Cycling

A modest amount of turning equipment on and off will not harm the computer. The life of a monitor is related to the amount of time it is in use, not the number of start and stop cycles. Modern hard disks are also not affected by frequent shut downs. The equipment may actually last longer because mechanical wear and heat stress are reduced. When equipment powers down, it generates less heat, collects less dust, and reduces mechanical stress, promoting a longer and more reliable life for the computer and monitor.

Energy Tips

If you are leaving your office for several hours, please shut down your computer. It only takes a few minutes to start up again. If you are leaving your office for more than an hour and cannot adjust to shutting down your computer, please turn off the monitor by pressing its power button.

Never leave your computer on overnight! It is not good for the environment, the computer, or the server you have probably left yourself logged into.

If you are sitting in your office when the monitor goes to sleep, please leave it sleeping if you are not actively using your computer. It does not take long for the screen to come back to life when you touch the mouse or a key on the keyboard.

If no one in your area will be using a printer for more than a couple of hours, and always at the end of the day, turn off the printer. Hewlett-Packard, the manufacturer of almost all Northern printers, recommends printers be turned off when not used for more than a few hours. Turning off printers not only saves energy, but also increases the life of the printer by reducing wear on moving parts.

Last Updated: 18-Jun-2009

Information Technology Services: Mac OS 9/X Power Management

Enabling Power Management: Mac OS 9 or Mac OS X

Mac OS 9

Click on the apple symbol (Apple Menu) in the upper left of your screen.
Go to "Control Panels" and select "Energy Saver".
Click on the "Sleep Setup" tab.
Set "Put the system to sleep whenever its is inactive" to 15 minutes using the slider.
Check the box for "Separate timing for display sleep" and set the time to 15 minutes using the slider.
Check the box for "Separate timing for hard disk sleep" and set the time to 15 minutes using the slider.

Mac OS X

Click on the apple symbol (Apple Menu) in the upper left of your screen.
Go to "System Preferences," Click "Show All" and select "Energy Saver" from the "Hardware" row.
Click on the "Show Details" button. Select "Power Adapter" under "Settings For:". If you are unable to complete this step an administrator has prevented you from changing these settings. Please stop here.
Set "Put the computer to sleep when it is inactive" to 15 minutes using the slider.
Check the box for "Use separate time to put the display to sleep" and set the time to 15 minutes using the slider.
Check the box for "Put the hard disk to sleep when possible."

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