Rebooting and Shutting Down Your Technology

Performing a restart of your devices at least once a week ensures that updates are applied to resolve bugs, add features, and apply security updates. It's the first step in troubleshooting issues.

Most users have laptops and don't usually shut down their computers. Closing the lid puts the device in sleep mode, and it keeps any running application running in the temporary storage (RAM) without freeing it up. When you open it back up, it will try to resume where it left off. However, you can run into issues opening a new application because it is trying to retain its last known state. Restarting your device before you start your day can help with mid-day mishaps or sluggishness.

Restarting your devices also provides these additional benefits:

It frees up memory, which, in turn, helps with performance. When running multiple programs, the computer's RAM can become overloaded, and a restart helps clear this temporary memory usage. Clearing temporary files and applying updates can often resolve minor software or hardware issues. This process improves overall performance and stability by giving the computer a clean operating slate. 

Rebooting your mobile device allows the device to do any software updates and refreshes the mobile network and data settings. It's important to keep mobile devices up to date due to security updates of the device itself, and some applications require the phone to be at its latest patch.

Note: Rebooting is often required to fully install software updates, including security patches, which can fix bugs and vulnerabilities. 

Before restarting your device, save open files and close active applications. Follow these steps to perform a restart on your computer:

Rebooting a Macbook System

Rebooting a Windows System

Rebooting an Android Phone

Shutting down a device is slightly different from rebooting it. The main difference is that it turns the device off completely. Another difference is that it doesn't try to apply updates when you shut down. Windows does give the option to update and shut down, but Macs do not. Shutdowns help with preserving battery life when not in use. If you close the lid, the device just gets put to sleep and still uses the battery at a lower rate to resume its last state. During this state, the battery can die. Also, if a battery gets to 0% for a long time, there is a chance that it won't charge. 

Shutting down does give the same additional benefits as a restart. It frees up memory, which, in turn, helps with performance. When running multiple programs, the computer's RAM can become overloaded, and a restart helps clear this temporary memory usage. Clearing temporary files and applying updates can often resolve minor software or hardware issues. This process improves overall performance and stability by giving the computer a clean operating slate. 

Shutdown an Macbook System

Shutdown an Windows System

Shutdown an Android Phone