PC IMPORTANT****

Important by not shutting down his computer completely: It if Necessary to fully shutdown computers instead of choosing to stand-by or hibernate computers (desktops and laptops)? Would there be any side-effects of keeping a computer running continuously without a shutdown (putting it to sleep or hibernating it when it is not used)? For example, hard drive life decrease, system internals (Processors, RAM etc.) aging faster than usual, etc? The argument for leaving your computer on all the time is that turning it on and off somehow stresses the computer's components. For example, when the CPU chip is running, it can get quite hot, and when you turn the machine off it cools back down.