The Power of the Power Button: How Restarting Your Computer Will Save the Day
July 21st, 2017 by admin
Restarting your computer takes three clicks of a button and a matter of seconds...but the difference this action makes is huge. Restarting your computer will not only resolve most day-to-day issues that arise, but will also play a huge role in protecting the security of your network. Here's the reason why something as simple as clicking the power button can save the day...The #1 Troubleshooting Fix
No matter what the issue, the device, or the setting, there is one universal troubleshooting tip that outperforms every other… “Have you tried turning it off and back on again?” Restarting or rebooting a device, particularly your workstation, will solve the majority of day-to-day computer issues that you encounter. Rebooting your workstation prevents programs from freezing, recurring crashes, slow performance, and the all too infamous blue screen of death. Whenever the systems running your computer get jammed up, mixed up, or slowed down, restarting your computer allows the systems to run with a clean slate. More often than not this will fix whatever issues you are encountering. But improved performance isn’t the only reason you should restart your computer…The Importance of Security
Restarting your computer affects security more than you would think. Patching, compliance standards, antivirus, and scripts are all influenced by how often you reboot your computer.- Patching. Patches will not be fully installed and activated on a computer until it has been restarted. That means that although your workstation may have many pending patches, if you don’t take the initiative to turn your computer off and back on again on a regular basis, then you are leaving security holes in your system.
- Compliance. Many forms of compliance, including PCI and HIPAA, require patching to be up-to-date within a certain time period. If your computer is not restarted within that time period, you are not only leaving those patches uninstalled, but also technically not in agreement with compliance standards.
- Antivirus. Antivirus programs will often keep viruses in quarantine and clear them when you reboot your computer. If you leave your computer running for long periods of time, those viruses will continue to build up without getting cleared. If you leave it long enough, it’s sure to cause problems.
- Scripts. Important scripts that need to be deployed company-wide can be blocked by patches and other programs that are left pending a restart of your computer.