How to Quickly Find Out How Long You Haven’t Turned Your Computer Off

I am a chronic downloader. I usually stay up with my computer, but then I do need to shut my eye. The computer chugs on and on. Sometimes, you need to find out how long your computer has been running just so you can give it a bit of a rest. Nope, you don’t need a stopwatch as Windows XP, Vista, and 7, all have a way of telling you how much time has elapsed since you last turned it on (this is however a bit different from finding out the last shutdown time of your computer).

Windows 7 and Vista make it real easy from the Task Manager. Here’s how you can find how you long you haven’t turned your computer off in Windows 7 (same for Vista), and in Windows XP.

The Simple Way

1. Right-click on the Taskbar and then click on Task Manager. You can also press CTRL+SHIFT+ESC to bring up the Task Manager.

2. Select the Performance tab. You can see how long the computer has been on since the last reboot mentioned as Up Time under System.

The Geeky Way

1. If you don’t like doing things using the GUI, then bring up the Command console by going to Start > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt.  You can also type cmd on the Start search bar and press Enter.

2. On the Command prompt, key in systeminfo and press Enter. Scroll down the list of system parameters to locate the entry which says – System Boot Time. This gives you the date and the time. Better, type in systeminfo|find “Time:”and get the System Boot Time instantly without all the other clutter.

How about Windows XP

The Task Manager lacks the uptime entry in XP, so we go back to the trusty command prompt. For details sake, we will cover both the long and short methods.

1. From Start > Run, type in cmd to bring up the command prompt. Type in systeminfo.

2. Scroll down the results to view the System Up Time which gives you the information in days, hours, and minutes.

3. Again, the shorter method involves typing in systeminfo|find “Time:”at the command prompt to get the up time directly.

So, we see that finding the up time in the three versions of Windows isn’t much of a problem. If you are addicted to the PC, giving it (and yourself) a bit of rest definitely is.