Don't Neglect to "Resart": I tend to click on Shut Down or Hibernate when I'm finished with a computer. "Restart" is a real shut down because it clears everything nasty out of memory...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I tend to click on Shut Down or Hibernate when I'm finished with a computer. "Restart" is a real shut down because it clears everything nasty out of memory, and you get a clean start.

Yesterday, neither printer would print, and I had the Epson "Connection Checker" stuck on the screen for hours. I couldn't get rid of it. After doing a restart, all is right with the world.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

jerryc41 wrote:

I tend to click on Shut Down or Hibernate when I'm finished with a computer. "Restart" is a real shut down because it clears everything nasty out of memory, and you get a clean start.

Yesterday, neither printer would print, and I had the Epson "Connection Checker" stuck on the screen for hours. I couldn't get rid of it. After doing a restart, all is right with the world.

Hmmmm? What does Restart do on your computer that Shut Down does not (after cold starting the computer again)? I never manually Hibernate my PC. It is an A/C powered Tower some I am not concerned with battery use or drain. They do seem to produce some different results but I am not sure what. I do find they Dell Tower runs best if after a Cold Boot I Warm Boot it with a Restart.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Our desktop sleeps after 5 hours of non-use. I only restart as necessary for hiccups.
My laptop gets shut down every night.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

lamiaceae wrote:

Hmmmm? What does Restart do on your computer that Shut Down does not (after cold starting the computer again)? I never manually Hibernate my PC. It is an A/C powered Tower some I am not concerned with battery use or drain. They do seem to produce some different results but I am not sure what. I do find they Dell Tower runs best if after a Cold Boot I Warm Boot it with a Restart.

Typically, restart does not power down the computer before rebooting, shutdown does.
I've had instances in the past where restart did not fix a problem, like with a WIFI or internet hiccup, where shutdown did fix it.

I've even had to use the one finger salute to shut a computer down when the mouse totally freezes.

Klickitatdave Loc: Seattle Washington

lamiaceae wrote:

Hmmmm? What does Restart do on your computer that Shut Down does not (after cold starting the computer again)? I never manually Hibernate my PC. It is an A/C powered Tower some I am not concerned with battery use or drain. They do seem to produce some different results but I am not sure what. I do find they Dell Tower runs best if after a Cold Boot I Warm Boot it with a Restart.

I just learned that the effects of Restarting vs. Shutting Down are counterintuitive. When you shut down, Windows actually saves the current state of the system so that when you do power back up you are back to the way things were at the time that you shut down. This allows the system to boot faster and allows you to rapidly get back to what you were doing before the shutdown. If the goal is to clear the system's memory or stop unneeded or problematic processes then Restart is the option to choose.

edrobinsonjr Loc: Boise, Idaho

jerryc41 wrote:

I tend to click on Shut Down or Hibernate when I'm finished with a computer. "Restart" is a real shut down because it clears everything nasty out of memory, and you get a clean start.

Yesterday, neither printer would print, and I had the Epson "Connection Checker" stuck on the screen for hours. I couldn't get rid of it. After doing a restart, all is right with the world.

When I do a restart the power light goes out and quickly comes on again. I have always felt that restart was just a convenient of shutdown/power on.

Ed

Drbobcameraguy Loc: Eaton Ohio

lamiaceae wrote:

Hmmmm? What does Restart do on your computer that Shut Down does not (after cold starting the computer again)? I never manually Hibernate my PC. It is an A/C powered Tower some I am not concerned with battery use or drain. They do seem to produce some different results but I am not sure what. I do find they Dell Tower runs best if after a Cold Boot I Warm Boot it with a Restart.

A restart clears the operating system completely. A shutdown is exactly that. Anything you are using is still ready when you boot up again.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Drbobcameraguy wrote:

... A shutdown is exactly that. Anything you are using is still ready when you boot up again.

Doesn't that maybe depend on having "Fast Startup" enabled in Windows?
If I shut down with apps running, like a browser, they do not come up running when I turn the computer on again. Nothing comes back on startup after a shutdown on my laptop. Same with Restart.
They do on Sleep, but the power light is still on during sleep.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

With the one-finger salute you force everything to initialize because you turn the power off. It's probably best to leave the power off for 10-15 seconds to ensure the voltage actually goes to zero. Then you know that starting up again is starting from scratch and there's nothing left over from your previous session. I usually use restart and it works but when it really freezes power-off is the only option.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

DirtFarmer wrote:

With the one-finger salute you force everything to initialize because you turn the power off. It's probably best to leave the power off for 10-15 seconds to ensure the voltage actually goes to zero. Then you know that starting up again is starting from scratch and there's nothing left over from your previous session. I usually use restart and it works but when it really freezes power-off is the only option.

I count to 10+, slowly, for all smart electronics just for that reason.
For devices with hard drives, I count to 30 to allow them to finish spinning down before they get shocked into starting up again.

edrobinsonjr Loc: Boise, Idaho

Drbobcameraguy wrote:

A restart clears the operating system completely. A shutdown is exactly that. Anything you are using is still ready when you boot up again.

Are we confusing things with "hibernate." Hibernate saves the state of the OS to disk and shuts down. When it wakes up, the saved state is loaded into memory and the system continues where it left off. Somewhere I read that the fast startup feature is like hibernate in disguise. See here: https://www.windowscentral.com/how-disable-windows-10-fast-startup.

I have never used fast startup or hibernate/sleep I want the machine to start from scratch if there is a problem.

Ed

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

lamiaceae wrote:

Hmmmm? What does Restart do on your computer that Shut Down does not (after cold starting the computer again)? I never manually Hibernate my PC. It is an A/C powered Tower some I am not concerned with battery use or drain. They do seem to produce some different results but I am not sure what. I do find they Dell Tower runs best if after a Cold Boot I Warm Boot it with a Restart.

When you click on Shut Down, it saves some info and turns off the computer. When you restart it, that leftover stuff comes back to life - for better or for worse. Doing a Restart, clears everything, and gives you a fresh start.

I might be wrong about this, but I think it's like starting with "Fast Start" unchecked.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

edrobinsonjr wrote:

Are we confusing things with "hibernate." Hibernate saves the state of the OS to disk and shuts down. When it wakes up, the saved state is loaded into memory and the system continues where it left off. Somewhere I read that the fast startup feature is like hibernate in disguise. See here: https://www.windowscentral.com/how-disable-windows-10-fast-startup.

I have never used fast startup or hibernate/sleep I want the machine to start from scratch if there is a problem.

Ed

Exactly. I turned mine off.
Ya don't want it "saving" a hiccup.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

edrobinsonjr wrote:

Are we confusing things with "hibernate." Hibernate saves the state of the OS to disk and shuts down. When it wakes up, the saved state is loaded into memory and the system continues where it left off. Somewhere I read that the fast startup feature is like hibernate in disguise. See here: https://www.windowscentral.com/how-disable-windows-10-fast-startup.

I have never used fast startup or hibernate/sleep I want the machine to start from scratch if there is a problem.

Ed

Correct. Hibernate starts the machine so it looks exactly as it did when you turned it off. All the programs and files appear. With Fast Start checked, the programs and files don't come back, but certain start-up files that were saved in memory do not have to be reloaded, so starting is faster. After you click on Fast Start, the computer will save some info to the disk so it will not have to reload it.

I use Hibernate for convenience, but I also do a restart occasionally.

TonyP Loc: New Zealand

jerryc41 wrote:

When you click on Shut Down, it saves some info and turns off the computer. When you restart it, that leftover stuff comes back to life - for better or for worse. Doing a Restart, clears everything, and gives you a fresh start.

I might be wrong about this, but I think it's like starting with "Fast Start" unchecked.

No, you are right Jerry