Chances are if you’ve asked an IT person about an issue that you’re having with your computer, the first thing out of his/her mouth is, “Did you turn it off, wait a few minutes, and then turn it back on again?”
As frustrating as this can be, rebooting your computer fixes many issues without further assistance. Why? It resets your systems, clears temporary files and memory settings, and gives the computer a “fresh start.” This can even fix issues that you are having with network drives and internet connectivity. Sometimes those connections get “stuck” and a reboot resets the system.
In fact, rebooting your computer or “when in doubt, punch out” made the top of the list in PCWorld’s October 3, 2012 article entitled 28 pieces of computing advice that stand the test of time.