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Yeah, I have to agree with that, most of the time if I have a problem, I reboot
first. Usually the problem is gone then, if not, it means something more serious is wrong, but that's for
another topic. But, as Tim said, people need to try rebooting more. That goes especially for people who
always leave their computers on. Me for one, have never really liked that idea, my systems either run too hot
or are to loud to sleep with them on (cuz they are usually in the same room I sleep in). So, I usually
don't have to reboot as often. I'd say in average day, my system is on for about 12-16 hours.
But, even not being on that long, I still have to reboot sometimes.
Yes, I always reboot. I remember yesterday I started playing Call of Duty 2 after the
computer had been on for a while, the frame rate was terrible, so instead of being like a normal stupid computer
user(i.e. ZOMGZ MYS COMPUTERS IS TEH SUXORZ) I rebooted. When I was back on my frame rate was silky smooth.
LMAO! Way to work in the L33t sP3@k into your posts. If we had mod
points, I'd mod you up just for that.
As I was thinking of things to add to the forum, one thing I couldnt help but think about was
support. I know there are a ton of people who just dont understand these blasted machines. Thats what
this is for. That being said, I want to discuss a feature that many people seem to forget about when their
computer is on the fritz, the reboot.
When I was in college, I did a LOT of support for students within
the dorms and even for those who lived off campus. Once I got my internship with Information Systems, business
really picked up. I was always helping someone with a computer issue of some kind. However, as I got
further and further into being the campus support bitch, I started figuring out that most of these problems were
easily fixed by rebooting. Junior year, I was getting an insane amount of phone calls from people with
computer issues, 95% of which were easily solved by rebooting the computer. It got so bad that I posted a note
on my dorm room exterior door that said 'Reboot before Knocking.' You know what, it worked.
People stopped bothering me as much. For those who dont understand, let me explain further the power of
rebooting.
Rebooting the computer basically means powering down the system and restarting fresh.
This clears out all memory so that when the computer comes back up, everything is relatively fresh. After the
computer has been on for a long period of time, the computers memory becomes clogged with data that has not been
returned to the system properly. In a perfect world, this would never happen, but realize that software is
written by humans and we're bound to make mistakes. Anyway, its recommended that you reboot on a semi
often basis, say once a day or once a week, depending on how often you use your computer. As it relates to
Windows, which anyone who has used Windows extensively knows that you have to reboot often, rebooting serves another
purpose. There's this thing that runs in the background that Windows uses to maintain important
system-wide information used by the OS, as well as by other programs installed on the computer. Its called the
registry. The registry is simply a huge database full of data like locations of certain files and other
important information needed for software to function. While it is not required to write software that uses
the registry, it does come in handy from time to time. When installing software on a Windows based computer, a
reboot basically saves any data to the registry so that it can be used by the application once the computer has
restarted.
While rebooting can sometimes seem like a pain in the ass, sometimes its necessary in
order to make things work properly. Im not saying that there isnt a better way, because Im sure there
is. Other operating systems write files containing important info, rather than writing to the registry.
However, until someone comes up with the perfect solution, rebooting is the way to go.
So if
you're running into a problem with your computer and you're not sure what to do first, REBOOT. I can
almost guarantee you that anyone in a support role is going to ask you this first before going further in trying to
help you. This is a way for you to be at least one step ahead of them, if you even have to contact them at
all.
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