Home

About Us

IT Services

Understanding IT

News

Blog

Contact Us

Support

Store

Poweron Technology Blog

Poweron Technology has been serving the New Mexico area since 2004, providing IT Support such as technical helpdesk support, computer support, and consulting to small and medium-sized businesses.

Shutting Down Your PC May Not Put a Stop to Your Processes

Shutting Down Your PC May Not Put a Stop to Your Processes

You’re probably familiar with a situation where your technology is on the fritz and someone says to you “Why don’t you turn it off and turn it back on?” What you have no way of knowing is that by turning it off and turning it back on, you aren’t getting the same result you would if you simply restarted the machine.

It sounds ludicrous, but turning your computer off doesn’t accomplish the same thing as restarting it does, at least not anymore. Let’s take a look at the differences.

What’s the Difference Between the Shut Down and Restart Processes?

In older versions of Windows, up until Windows 7, shutting your computer down and restarting it resulted in the same process. The computer would shut down, RAM would be reset, and once you started the computer back up, you’d start with no elective processes running. With the introduction of Microsoft’s first “metro” OS, Windows 8, this process changed. In these OSs, Microsoft has a new startup process called Fast Startup. With this feature, shutting down a device and restarting a device have two separate processes.

Shut Down

The presence of Fast Startup shortens the process of starting up your machine, it does this for shutting down as well.

When a user commands the computer to shut down, their programs and files are shut down, but their OS is placed in standby mode. This shuts the computer down, unlike the hibernate and standby options, but it also makes Windows faster to reactivate. Since most of the computer’s processes aren’t stopped in their tracks, the issues that got you to shut it down in the first place will still be there when it is rebooted. 

Restart

When a user selects to restart, however, the devices puts a stop to all processes. This is why it takes a little longer to restart than it would to just shut down. It is a fresh boot at the motherboard level. 

The difference is in the shutdown process. Funny enough, by “shutting down” a computer, it actually leaves more components active than a restart does, making a restart the recommended process to use when troubleshooting an issue.

Next time you hear “turn your computer off and on again,” or “reboot,” you’ll know that restarting your computer is the way to go.

If you would like more information about how your operating system works, or any other technology issue you always wondered about, subscribe to our blog.

Get More Done on Your Smartphone with these Tips
Understanding How Technology Impacts C-Level Busin...
 

Comments

No comments made yet. Be the first to submit a comment
Guest
Already Registered? Login Here
Guest
Friday, March 29, 2024

Captcha Image

Latest Blog

Running a business can be tough and result in a lot of frustration from staff, management, and customers. Sometimes that frustration can boil over and cause consternation among the core elements that need to function for a business to be su...

Contact Us

Learn more about what Poweron Technology
can do for your business.

(505) 899-4600

Poweron Technology
9000 Alameda Blvd NE
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87122

Account Login