On 2011/08/02 12:54, 2marion wimps wrote: > An IT guy explained it to me once - every time you open and shut a programme > the > programme doesn't shut down completely - it leaves little "pieces" behind (not > his description but mine!) - the more you open and close programmes the more > little bits get left behind which means eventually some of the brains can get > slightly scrambled - shutting down the computer gets rid of the little > "pieces" > and takes you back to square one! > Does that make sense - it did to me - which is why if I have been on the > computer for any length of time I shut down and start up again.
What you're describing here is why so many people hate Windows! As time goes on, it loses track of resources (blocks of memory, handles etc) and tends to get slower and slower. As programs start and end, Windows is supposed to keep track of all of the operating system resources that the program uses. But, it's a bit like Pooh - A Bear of Very Little Brain - and it forgets things. Shutting down and restarting is generally a good thing. The longer it's left running (even in Sleep mode or in hibernation) the more prone to corruption things become. In the past, the Registry used to be loaded into memory and accessed and updated there, only being written back to disk when a shutdown occurred. Thankfully, Registry corruptions are largely a thing of the past. My first step in any location has always been to ask a basic question "Can you 100% trust your power supply?" If the answer is "No", then you need to be shutting down and restarting more often. Me. I start the machines in the morning and I shut them down before I go to bed. South Africa is probably more prone to power cuts than the UK, and the state utility has the nasty habit of trying to conserve power for industry. When power is restored, there are occasional spikes. If this happened overnight and I hadn't turned the machines off, they could be damaged. Here's another one. Ever seen the digital clock on a stove run slow? I have, because the state supplier has slightly tweaked the voltage, and the stove no longer receives all the electrons that it should be getting. OK! Enough! I know it's off-topic, but I thought I'd explain some reasons why my machines aren't kept on over night. Won't say another word on the subject :-) -- Regards, Mike Fry Johannesburg Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp Follow Legacy on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LegacyFamilyTree) and on our blog (http://news.LegacyFamilyTree.com). To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp
