Why Does Rebooting Fix Everything? Ask a Microsoft Engineer!

Retired Microsoft engineer Davepl explains why rebooting fixes so many problems. From resource leaks to memory fragmentation he explains the many causes of a slow computer as well as how to use Task Manager to fix many common Windows slowdowns.

[greendragon]

It's good to see a Saskatchewan boy do well for himself and do something for a cause he believes in. Good on you Dave!

[robert]

I love how he just casually talks about the fact that he wrote task manager.

[jackielinde]

When I worked in my company's IT Service Desk, one of the frequent questions I would get while having customers perform said reboot was, "Why does a reboot fixes things?"
My answer was thus, "Programs are like three year olds. They're great at unpacking all their toys and spreading them across the RAM. They're not so great at picking up after themselves when they are done. Rebooting cleans up the RAM of all the toys the programs left on the floor."

[rhirsch]

Terminating a misbehaving process using Task Manager is not only a wise approach... it's also immensely satisfying.

[oompalumpus]

Dude, this is like watching the guy who made fire. An invention taken for granted but the world would have gone nowhere without it. And this man came up with functions that allowed computers to be a lot easier to use.

Thank you YT recommendations for working correctly this time.

[erniemiller]

Words fail me to express how grateful I am that you made task manager available. I have learned so much through use, and used it to no end for years.

[ELYESSS]

I would love a video about windows registry and its history.

[CMOS]

I remember back with I started with Linux in the days of Windows 95 the saying went "Problems in Windows? Reboot! - Problems in Linux? Be Root!"
Jokes aside, Dave is a treasure trove of knowledge and nostalgia.
Your insights into the history of technology is priceless!

[thame]

There's always truth to the I.T. guy at work when he asks you "Have you tried turning it off and on again?". Love the vid.

[dsmtoday]

For some driver issues, putting a machine to sleep can be as effective as a reboot, since the hardware will have to be re-initialized during wakeup, similar (but not quite) to what happens at boot time. Hibernate can have a similar effect.

[Winnetou]

I lost it at "Ask me how I know these things". Oh, so true :))

[brucethen]

A couple of weeks ago, for no apparent reason one of my games kept stuttering so I opened task manager to try and investigate. I noticed that every time the game stuttered my graphics usage dropped from 99% to about 10. The interesting thing I noticed was at the same time other graphs briefly appeared and disappeared, these turned out to be activity graphs for my card reader. There was nothing in the card reader and no reason for anything to access it but removing it cured the stutter in my game.

[alexsutton]

Great video. I remember the days of Windows 3.11 when a reboot every few hours was an absolute necessity after opening just a few programs and closing them again!

[rjonboy]

I remember a memory freeing utility that was a godsend for XP. Some kind individual made it free with a simple interface containing a few settings and a go button. In the time it took to get coffee (or get rid of some) it would free all the processes without killing your open programs and windows. Then you click something and after a pause where it reinitialized it was as smooth as a cold reboot

[mikgus]

Wow this video made me feel nostalgic, a lot of advice i haven't felt the need to do since pre W7.
Back in the before time we had a NT4 file server with a slow memory leak. You had to reboot at least once a year the big problem was that after X reboots it forced a chkdsk that took about 50h to complete. So you could only reboot it late on a friday in case it needed the whole weekend to check the disks

[XantheFIN]

This man wrote the most important Windows tool. Task manager. Wont ask praises. Humble man.

[nilsdrees]

it's absolutely amazing how the greatest parts of windows we use on a daily basis have their origin in the fingertips of this genius man

[JoePolvino]

Very good explanation of complex concepts.

It is unfortunate that we've grown accustomed to operating systems that allow programs/processes to misbehave to the point that a reboot is required. As an IT professional, it is infuriating to be in the middle of a very long task that requires multiple applications, browsers, etc. to be open...only to be forced to reboot. While this probably doesn't bother casual users watching Youtube or browsing as much, there should still be efforts to detect what is causing the need to reboot, and address those without forcing a reboot.

[androidrandom]

I love the Big Friendly Giant closing. Some of my earliest memories are watching him on CBC in the morning... Way, Way up, and I'll call Rusty! I loved watching the little chairs be set out at the end... and there are (exaggerated, I'm sure) reports that I would cry when the drawbridge would come up and the melody would play.

[annmeacham]

You are unbelievably amazing! Your sense of humor is oh so sly and just a tad wicked as well. Your voice is pleasantly gruff, with enough tonal variations to keep our attention, without going to annoying extremes. Your analogies are to the point, as are the illustrating examples used.

I’m sorry if my gushing praise seems sycophantic, but each one of your videos I’ve seen has increased my admiration. You address questions many of us didn’t even know we were harboring in the back of our minds, putting them into terms even a neophyte can follow. Occasionally, the discussion flies far from my comprehension, and I know I’ve reached the limits of my current capacity and I need a reboot. Thank you for sharing your talents with us.