Why reboot?

If you have to reboot a computer it's because the data in your computer has gotten scrambled up and the computer stops, because it no longer can handle operational instructions in a logical manner. (locks up). It says to itself (what the heck is this information, its not sending me the correct patterns so that I can make reasonable decisions as to send instructions to either the memory, CPU,Disk drive, Printer, OH NO MY game plan is Kaput, I quit). I will sit here and do nothing till I get the right data flowing.)

Rebooting removes power so the computer can start over fresh. All the data in memory is lost on powering down, Then power is applied and booting up takes place with the correct instructions going back into memory. Hopefully your computer is still working properly and has no parts failure or corrupted data. Now the computer is just like it behaves when you first turned it on.

Depending on what has happened, re-booting corrects several different errors.

1. Files that are stuck in either real or virtual memory. This is often the result of bad programming, or running too many applications at once.

2. A program has locked up a port on the PC.
(mouse or keyboard not responding)

3. A corrupted virtual device driver.

A good analogy would be to compare re-starting the computer to cleaning the inside of a cars engine, or cleaning out clogged water pipes.
Everything runs better when it is clean and clear.

Chas

Rebooting clears all the data stored in virtual memory and will help in faster performance and normalisation of the system

Rebooting is kind of the "Let's get back to a clean slate" approach. A digital shaking of the Etch-A-Sketch so to speak ;)

If your computer is frozen, rebooting will "unfreeze it." Sounds simple enough, though the main argument against this philosophy is the belief that rebooting will cause a user to lose work. The reality is, if the computer is frozen, it's already decided if the work is saved, lost, or recoverable.

If your programs are freezing, but your computer hasn't frozen yet, rebooting will make them run properly again. Often times programs generate fatal errors, for a variety of reasons. When this happens, the programs may close out on their own, or "hang" and have to be closed manually, and frequently will not restart again.

Rebooting frees up resources that were previously lost, allowing programs to function normally.
Rebooting frees up resources. Your programs are eating up your memory, temporary hard drive space, and other valuable resources. There is only afinite amount of resources your computer has. When they run out, your computer slows down until it finally halts altogether.

Rebooting "refreshes" those resources, and allows you to continue working at an optimal speed.

Rebooting fixes problems. When you reboot, your computer performs a series of diagnostic checks and often fixes problems without you knowing. So if your computer is acting strange, often rebooting fixes the error.

It helps in troubleshooting. Finally, rebooting helpsin troubleshooting the problem, and ahelps determine if the issue is something that's repeatable. A one time problem, like a program freezing, would not refreeze after rebooting...but if the error occurs every time, then chances are it will require greater troubleshooting to see if it's driver, hardware, corrupt software or whatever...

Hope this helps some (or at least makes some sense!)

If it were a human it would be simular to fainting or a sezure. The mind doesn't stop but locks up and no longer can correctly control the body. When the person comes out of it (reboots) most of the time all is back to normal. :)

most generally after a period of time, even though the system might "act" normal, there are applications that in order for them to function properly they require a reboot to refresh the system to enable to run those applications. A reboot frees up the system and give it a clean slate to work from hope this helps

Sometimes applications "forget" to "free up" memory they've allocated when they're done using it. This causes Windows to spend more and more time managing its "virtual" memory. Remember, even though your computer has 256MB (for example) of real memory (memory you can touch and see), Windows allows more than that to run (ask if you want to know how and why). That's why you can feel Windows slowing down until you can't stand it anymore and re-boot.

I find this especially true when being on various internet sites. The more "network" stuff I do, the less time I have "between boots".

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