Why does rebooting my PC solve so many problems?
By Tom Chick,
Staff Writer
Ok OK, we admit it.
As IT Professionals, we HATE asking if you have tried rebooting as much as you hate hearing it.
HOWEVER, there IS a method to the madness, and I would like to try and quickly explain it to you.
1. Fresh Start:
When you reboot a computer, you are essentially asking your PC to remove all temporary information, and start over.
This is an important first step in troubleshooting. Temporary information is much more prone to corruption, and data failure, and therefore rebooting will solve problems easily by deleting this information.
2.RAM it home:
Memory (or RAM) is generally the first part of your computer to get filled with this temporary information, and, let’s face it, not all programs you may run are created equally. Many programs suffer from issues such as “memory leaks”, where a given program will slowly use more and more memory until it’s all used up. The result? Your computer becomes slower than a rock rolling uphill.
3. The Fixer
Every time you restart your computer, it runs a series of diagnostics, and small repair utilities in the background. You can see how this would solve problems.
4. Your PC, the final frontier:
Sometimes it just fixes problems, and we freely admit, we have no clue why.
5. Freeze or I’ll shoot:
it is a very popular misconception is that if you reboot a frozen computer, you’ll lose everything you were working on. The sad truth is, by the time it’s frozen, there is a pretty good possibility you have already lost it. 🙁
6. Trouble-Shoot.
It helps us to see if it is a reproducible problem, or a temporary issue.
Ok OK, we admit it.
As IT Professionals, we HATE asking if you have tried rebooting as much as you hate hearing it.
HOWEVER, there IS a method to the madness, and I would like to try and quickly explain it to you.
1. Fresh Start:
When you reboot a computer, you are essentially asking your PC to remove all temporary information, and start over.
This is an important first step in troubleshooting. Temporary information is much more prone to corruption, and data failure, and therefore rebooting will solve problems easily by deleting this information.
2.RAM it home:
Memory (or RAM) is generally the first part of your computer to get filled with this temporary information, and, let’s face it, not all programs you may run are created equally. Many programs suffer from issues such as “memory leaks”, where a given program will slowly use more and more memory until it’s all used up. The result? Your computer becomes slower than a rock rolling uphill.
3. The Fixer
Every time you restart your computer, it runs a series of diagnostics, and small repair utilities in the background. You can see how this would solve problems.
4. Your PC, the final frontier:
Sometimes it just fixes problems, and we freely admit, we have no clue why.
5. Freeze or I’ll shoot:
it is a very popular misconception is that if you reboot a frozen computer, you’ll lose everything you were working on. The sad truth is, by the time it’s frozen, there is a pretty good possibility you have already lost it. 🙁
6. Trouble-Shoot.
It helps us to see if it is a reproducible problem, or a temporary issue.
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