For the sake of practicality and savings, it is often best to turn your computer off when you aren't using it, especially for the many hours that you spend sleeping at night.   Sometimes, however, there are situations in which you can benefit greatly by leaving your computer on to run a few tasks while you sleep or any other time that you aren't using it.  The main idea is to save time, energy, and computing power by running CPU-intensive and time-consuming tasks at times when they won't interfere with your regular computer use.  In this article, you will find a number of tasks that you can automate while you sleep.

Updating your operating system or other applications

One of the easiest tasks you can run on your computer while you sleep are software update tasks.  Whether you download and install updates for your operating system or any other program, you will often have the option to automate everything from downloading to the installation processes.  Just make sure that you allow for ample time before having your system automatically shut down, or it may shut down during an important installation step, causing software problems.

Running anti-virus and anti-malware scans

Another great way of using your computer while you sleep is to run anti-virus and anti-malware scans.  Most of the anti-malware software these days have scheduling functions that even allow you to automate what action the application will take if it finds any infection.  You may also find an auto-shutdown function on your anti-malware software.  If there is no auto-shutdown feature, you can find one of the many programs that shutdown your computer at specific times.

Backup

Backing up your data can be very time-consuming and, in most cases, stressful on your processor, causing your computer to bog down while copying files.  If you want to avoid this dilemma, find software that will help you schedule and automate the backup processes.  You may not be able to automate large backups onto CDs or DVDs, but if you back up your information to the Internet, to a separate hard drive, or to a large removable memory device, then it should be easy enough to "set-and-forget" your backup process.

Other options

Downloading and uploading - Downloading and uploading large files can easily eat up your bandwidth, making it hard to surf the Net or use any function that rely on your Internet connection.  You can use a download manager or any other similar software to schedule large downloads and uploads to be completed when you are away from your computer.

Video encoding or 3-D rendering -  Video encoding and 3-D rendering are extremely CPU-intensive, eating up your computer's resources, and making it difficult to run even the simplest of tasks.  If you can't afford to run your rendering and encoding tasks while you use your computer, then you may want to use a program that will allow you to schedule these tasks for times when you are asleep or AFK.

Shutting it down -  Finally, perhaps the most cost-effective way of using your computer while you are asleep is to shut it down so it doesn't leech off of your electricity, raising your bills without actually achieving anything productive.