Try Turning it On and Off Again

“Have you tried turning it off and on again?” It’s no secret that this phrase is a favorite of IT professionals. In fact, popular British sitcom, The IT Crowd opens their first episode by giving this line to one of their main characters. But, as the old saying goes, “in every joke, there is a grain of truth”, and it’s no different for this joke. Our ADVYON IT experts really do always ask if you’ve tried rebooting your machine. Why? Because it works!

Rebooting Can Cure Many Common Issues

Tamra Dubis, one of our IT Support Technicians, explained: “I’m passionate about rebooting… It’s important for your computer’s health. A computer needs sleep just like you and I do” According to Tamra, many of our clients’ most common issues including printer and program errors and network connection can be helped by rebooting. There’s almost never a bad time to try rebooting, as long as all files are saved and you aren’t in the middle of an update.

Experts say that rebooting can help with issues such as:

• Computer Running Slowly
• Unexpected Freezing
• Driver Error
• Hardware Error
• Slow Internet Speeds
• Software or Hardware Installation

Rebooting is critical for the speed, storage, and security of your computer. Let’s examine each of these issues more closely to see the difference that rebooting makes.

Issue # 1- Speed

Restarting your computer increases its overall speed. As you go about your work day, you probably open and close browser windows and computer programs without even thinking about it. What many of us don’t realize is that these programs leave a digital footprint in the form of background processes or programs that didn’t close all the way. These unseen programs can take up resources needed for you to perform new tasks quickly. Rebooting your machine sweeps away all the footprints from those programs.

Rebooting is also key to boosting internet speeds. Restarting your router wipes away the current state of your machine, including any bugs that are associated with the way it is working. When you reboot, your routerfrom before any issues that occurred.

Issues # 2- Storage

Rebooting also maximizes storage space for your computer. When you open and close programs on your computer, some of that information is stored in the random access memory (RAM). When this storage space fills up, your RAM can have a memory leak. Restarting clears the RAM, freeing up that needed storage space. A hard restart can also temporarily clear cache and free up storage space for your phone and computer.

Issue #3- Security

Finally, rebooting is vital to the security of your computer. If you leave your computer logged in, this can leave your computer open for security breaches. Restarting can also be crucial for program updates. For instance, Windows releases regular security patches. These patches provide updates to security programs not covered by large scale updates of Defender, etc. The longer it takes to apply these patches, the higher the risk of potential breach. Applying the patches without rebooting could lead to other attacks.

When Should I Reboot?

So, when should you reboot? Our technician, Tamra, recommends that you restart your computer on Friday afternoon. This allows plenty of time for updates and rebooting without disturbing your workday. At the minimum, experts recommend restarting your machine every 30 days.

Tamra also emphasizes that restarts and updates are different from one another. Some software can be updated due to a restart, but an update doesn’t usually have anything to do with the internal workings of your machines. Updates are also different from upgrades. Tamra cautions that an old version of Windows 10 can be just as much of a security risk of Windows 7.

Final Thoughts:

So, if you’re looking to boost the speed, storage, and security of your computer, remember to turn it off and on again. Rebooting your computer is important to restore everything to ideal working conditions without any problematic cache or half-opened programs. If you’d like to know more about why and when you should restart your machine, call our experts today.