My computer Dell (almost 2 years old) will not log off or turn off. Last night I clicked turn off computer and it made a little noise but did not shut down. Then I tried logging off but still nothing, I even tried double clicking and still nothing. Other than that it works fine. Also I can press the off button on it and hold it in and it will turn off. When I am working I usually leave it on 24/7 but on my off days I will turn it off. Does anyone know what may be wrong with it?
2nd question. We are trying to reduce our electric bill. I say we need to turn the computer off and shut it down entirely , my sons says to click standby and turn off the monitor. Which should we do?

I can semi answer the second one. It's the monotors that use up most of the energy. I had a friend who accidentally left his laptop (incidently a dell) on standby for 3 weeks until I went to borrow it. It wasn't plugged in but the battery was still almost full- so I'd concluded from that it couldn't be using that much energy on standby. So I don't feel bad about doing it and my electricity bills are really good :)

A computer won't actually be doing much processing on standby so I can't see how it would use up loads of energy. Unfortuately don't know any figures. If you really want to save electricity don't leave the TV on standby it uses a lot of the energy. Also never ever leave phone charges plugged in- you might as well hand out money on the street!

I don't know what's wrong with your computer but when my laptop does the same thing from time to time (seems to increase if I don't turn it off regulary) I remove all external power sources and then remove the battery. Kills it dead but then it starts up does it's checks and works fine.*

*Disclaimer this could be really bad advice!!

I'll ask my boyfriend/ my flatmate's girlfirend when they get in if no one else has posted. They are the computer geeks and will know better than me. I'm a subscriber to the blue smoke theory. Computers/machines run on blue smoke and when the blue smoke leave it's dead. Magic smoke - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

First off there are different ways to shut off the computer that yield different power usage, boot up time, or both.

Turn it off - should be no power in use. Motherboards use onboard batteries to power real time clocks, etc. Slowest boot time in this config.

Suspend - Shuts the computer down keeps power to some of the internal computer components, mostly RAM I believe. Fastest boot time in this config. A laptop left in this state not plugged in will last 2 - 4 days typically.

Hybernate - Takes a snap shot of what's in RAM, stores it on the hard disk to be reloaded on reboot. Uses same power as turning off but allows your computer to boot faster than turning off.

What could be causing your computer not to shut down?

Typically a device driver for something installed on the machine has gotten you in this state. Anything added to the computer after receiving it from Dell could be the culprit. When I've hit this state with computers it's usually time to backup data, format the drive and start over. Ideally you have Dell restore disks... if not call them and they'll send them to you. (I've seen Dell don't automatically ship the restore disk with every PC)

Great and helpful answers above!

Concerning using energy, I would shut everything off. If anything you use in your home is on, but so much as having some sort of light on, then it is using energy and hence money - even with those little display lights. Turn it off and unplug it. I know that some will say that I am being kind of silly, but you know what? I'll tell you a little story here:

About four years ago, I got into a real conservation mode for gas as well as electrical and also water usage. If an electrical appliance wasn't being used, I made sure that it wasn't using any electricity at all. Lights not needed in rooms for even a few minutes, I turned them off. While shaving using water from the sink, turned it off between strokes. Kept the thermostat at the minimum temperature that I could stand. The one thing that I didn't keep totally off was the gas stove and some electric clocks.

I was and am on the budget plan with the local gas & electric company which means that they try to bill me in twelve equal payments based upon an average use for certain parts of the year.

It was Winter. One month, I got a bill from them for only $5.00 for both the gas and electric usage. I went down to them personally to see what was up.

The gal that helped me asked, "Don't you use your utilities." I think that I said something like, "Not like some people do."

Those $5.00 billings continued for another two months. The gas & electric company was charging the minimum that they could and was playing catch up because of my conservation efforts, it turned out that I had overpaid!

I still have the original bills to prove this.

There is another way to do this though. You can also make a fake virus that will shutdown your computer. This is harmless and will only be activated when clicked on. Examples of this are here.

Thanks for answering my question at least I have some good answers , now I will see if I can solve my problems. If not my boss has a son-in-law that has a computer business.