The Art of the Restart
The joke about IT asking "Have you tried turning it off and on again" is one based in a lot of truth! Freezes, crashes, slow performance, or a program just acting "weird" happen frequently. Not only are you restarting the application giving you an issue, but you are also restarting the programs and hardware supporting your application. This is a quick way to identify if an issue is permanent or temporary. This isn't always the resolution to an issue, but is still necessary more often than not!
When Restarting is a Good Idea
- When updates are scheduled (Notifications appear for I.T. Dept scheduled updates in the lower-right hand corner)
- When a computer feels slower as the day or work week progresses
- When connectivity is lost and doesn't resume properly
- If your computer is just acting... "weird"
- When you think you should shutdown. Restarting rather than shutting down allows updates and automatic background tasks to continue working
- At the end of the workday as a preventative measure, or before starting work at the beginning of your workweek.
Why does Restarting Help?
- It flushes your Memory/RAM. This means that all the accumulated data that isn't necessarily being used at this moment can be freed up during a restart
- RAM space utilized by long running tasks or programs not in use can be reduced or eliminated
- Programs are now "fresh" because they haven't been running as long
- Programs are now able to finish updating, checking for new instructions, or other tasks that aren't possible when the application is in use
- It saves you time. Rather than troubleshooting or trying to work around an issue, a 2-5 minute restart may have a better return on time invested!
What if Restarting Doesn't Work?
SJRstate IT is here to help! Reach out to us by:
- Calling the Helpdesk at (386)312-4142
- E-mailing ITDepartment@SJRState.edu
- Using the Help Portal at help.sjrstate.edu , and filing a service request ticket for the appropriate service. If you're not sure which service to use, you can submit a general request with the button below and we'll categorize it for you!
Submit General I.T. Helpdesk Ticket (Staff And Faculty)