Lawrence
Information Technology

Definitions:

OS: Operating System. This would be the software you use to run your device. Example: Windows 10, iOS, Android
Up time: The length of time since the last complete shutdown/reboot of a device.

Why you need to restart your computer:

“Have you tried turning it off and on again?” You have probably been told to try turning your computer off and on again. It may have worked, it may not, but it is an essential first step to troubleshooting an issue. This is because as you use a computer, temporary files are being created, files are being cached, processes are being started and logs are building up. While the OS should be cleaning up as it runs, it does miss items from time to time. This shouldn't cause any issues in the short term, but if you let the computer run for too long you might see a reduction in speed. This can cause an increase in application crashes and errors. When you reboot the computer this closes any temporary files, clears the cached files, and resets the running processes and logs resolving related issues.

Windows hibernate aka shutdown:

One recent change that has exacerbated this issue is the “Shutdown” button in Windows. The button doesn't shutdown the computer. It instead puts it into hibernate. While hibernate does power off your computer, the difference is it takes a snapshot of everything going on. With that snapshot, Windows is able to startup exactly where you stopped, and will get you back to where you were faster. However, this also reloads everything that would be cleaned up with a full shutdown. This means you could shutdown your computer once a day for a month, and when you check the up time, the counter will show that the computer has not restarted for a month. To resolve this issue, instead of selecting “Shutdown” you need to select “Restart”. The restart option does fully shutdown your computer and turn it back on. You can make the “Shutdown” button fully shut down, however this will cause the start up to take longer. If you want to make this change, open powershell as admin and typing the following command:

> powercfg /hibernate off

How long is too long:

While the answer depends on the OS, I would say 1 month is too long. Ideally, I recommend restarting your computer every week.

How can I find how long my computer has been on for:

For Windows:

1. Open Task Manager. There are two ways:
• You can right click the task bar or press Ctrl+Alt+Delete, and select Task Manager.
• Press Ctrl+Shift+Escape
2. Go to Performance and make sure it is on CPU
3. The Up Time will be on the bottom near the center of that page

For Mac and Linux:

1. Open terminal.
2. Use the “uptime” command.