Time Management

So it takes 3 minutes to boot up your PC. How many people start work as soon as they hit their desks?

Not many I'd bet, you make a cup of tea/coffee, sort out paperwork etc. Use this time to boot your PC.

As for updates & back-ups. Why don't companies store documents on a central server, this mirror is then synchronised during log-out. Back-ups are then carried out on the server, not the PCs.

As for updates, ours run on the day after Patch Tuesday, collecting the update from the policy server and updating the PC during the working day. Yes it means we have to reboot when the update is run, but that can be done during brew time at 10am.

Finally, it's utter bullshit that shutting PCs down shortens their life, it used to be that case that old ISA cards would gradually work out of their slots due to heating & cooling, and the old AT power supplies may have occasionally died for the same reason, but modern components are much more reliable.

Look at it this way, do you keep your car engine running 24/7 so you don't have to waste time starting it up every morning?