Engadget addresses a long-running piece of PC folklore: whether you really need to restart your computer regularly, or whether this is outdated advice. The general consensus, the article says, is that rebooting does still matter, though how often depends on your operating system and device type, with Windows machines generally needing more frequent restarts than Linux systems, and laptops needing proper shutdowns rather than just sleep mode due to their limited cooling.

The piece recommends restarting a Windows PC at least once a week, explaining that reboots clear accumulated "cruft" from apps, background processes and drivers, flush certain temporary malware from memory, and free up performance headroom on machines with limited RAM. It also flags a common pitfall: Windows' Fast Startup feature, enabled by default, hibernates rather than fully restarts the kernel on shutdown, which can stop a reboot from fixing slowdowns; the article explains how to bypass or disable it via Shift-click or the Control Panel's Power Options. It notes that restarting is essential after updating apps, hardware or drivers, and whenever a Windows update is pending.