Turning off computers and other electrical equipment in late December has four advantages, in addition to saving money for the campus because of reduced electrical bills:

• If the equipment is protected with a surge protector, or unplugged, it will not be impacted if there is a power failure. If the equipment is unplugged, it will not be affected by any power surges or other power fluctuations (or power failure, of course).

• Y2K problems, if any, can be addressed in a phased manner as the equipment is turned on.

• Computer systems that are turned off on January 1 are not subject to network attacks (perhaps done with the anticipation that they may be confused with other Y2K problems) or any Y2K viruses that trigger on January 1st.

• In a small percentage of cases, Y2K problems, particularly for research equipment, can be avoided if the equipment is not powered on as of midnight on December 31st.

For desktop computers and other equipment that is typically turned off at night and/or on weekends, it seems clear that this equipment should be turned off in late December. If it is not protected by a surge protector,it should also be unplugged.

For equipment like departmental servers, the decision by department management as to whether to turn these off should be based on several factors:

• Who are the users of the services provided by the server?
  For example, a web server that is used by students almost definitely should stay on, because students may well want to use it in late December. Similarly, a web server used by campus employees to get information on benefits or job vacancies might be important to keep on-line between December 24th and January 2nd. But a file and print server in a department might be able to be turned off without affecting users at all, because no one might be scheduled to be working between December 24th and January 2nd.

• Has the server been turned off and successfully restarted in the past six months? Are there any reasons to expect problems with restarting?
  For example, if the person who set up the computer, created startup scripts, etc., no longer works in or is available to the department, then leaving the server on may be the best way to avoid problems in January.

• When will the equipment be turned back on?
  Presumably the goal is to have minimal problems (normal operations) on Monday. Will the equipment be restarted on Saturday or Sunday, January 1st or 2nd, or will that wait until Monday, January 3rd? If Monday, will it be restarted before most staff have arrived?

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