Home computer use: how often to reboot?

Self-tutoring about home computer use: the tutor looks up how often one should reboot.

When I’m the only user of a computer, I shut it down daily. That’s much harder to do, however, when other people use the device as well.

I’m under the impression that when a computer is left on for too long, it’s like a workspace that is in constant use but no-one cleans up. Modern computers always like to hold on to whatever you’re doing, in case you return to that task. Over time, the memory (RAM) becomes loaded with “temporary” stuff, including programs open but not in use, etc. Some webpages from open tabs you aren’t using may continue to flood your computer with JavaScript – not necessarily harmful, but, at the same time, memory-consuming.

Restarting the computer can cleanse out all that clutter from the RAM, like clearing a workspace so it’s empty, ready for the next worker to set up. That’s my understanding, anyway.

Of course, before you restart a computer, it’s good to warn people in case they have open files they may not have saved, or at least not recently. Those other users may be hard to reach – probably the exact reason why computers get left on:)

Source:

csolutionsit.com