Is reboot the same as restart?

melbury

I have a red notice on my Kaspersky icon which when I clicked on it says I need to reboot my computer. 

I have never had this before and just wanted to check that it is a restart they are talking about (as with Windows Update) and not something sinister.  

Should I do it?

Neil_Jones

These days they are interchangeable, but restart is basically to turn it off and on again, whereas reboot is without switching it off in the process.  To all intents and purposes (and most users) they just mean restart the computer via the Start Menu.

https://www.lifewire.com/reboot-vs-reset-4157868 might be of interest.

Carrot007

Yes, but really stop using 3rtd party nonsence stuff like Kaspersky. (especially if it is going to freak you out like this).

p3ncilsharpener

Neil_Jones said:

These days they are interchangeable, but restart is basically to turn it off and on again, whereas reboot is without switching it off in the process.  To all intents and purposes (and most users) they just mean restart the computer via the Start Menu.

https://www.lifewire.com/reboot-vs-reset-4157868 might be of interest.

Reboot and restart are the same thing.  That article confirms they are (or were) both power cycling.  In the old days pressing the physical restart/reset button briefly tripped the power causing a reboot, the power button just stopped it, pressing it again booted it back up.

melbury

Thank you for the reassuring replies, I just thought it might mean taking it back to factory settings or suchlike.

I have used Kaspersky Internet Security for years and have never been asked to do this before, hence the worry.

melbury

Carrot007 said:

Yes, but really stop using 3rtd party nonsence stuff like Kaspersky. (especially if it is going to freak you out like this).

Always been really pleased with Kaspersky, it is very good and hasn’t freaked me out before. Is there something else you would recommend?

mobileron

Use the free windows defender version, not had a virus in years.

Biggus_Dickus

@melbury

There are subtle technical differences between restart/reboot et al using Win-10  and  it’s all explained here,..yawn!

Technical/pc forums used to be cluttered with endless discussions about the best (and worst!) anti-virus software i.e. AVG/MacAfee/Avast/Avira etc etc etc....the list was endless.

Indeed, I was one of those obsessive idiots forever chopping and changing my anti-virus s/w due to conflicts and problems (some real, some imagined) of one sort or another but that started to change when win-10 came along in 2015. Anti-virus s/w discussions still exist but they are minimal compared to yesteryear.

I’ve been using Microsoft-Windows Defender/Security for many many years now and never had an issue,...and I’ve never seen a convincing argument that would tempt me to change;...it ticks away quietly looking after my interests and I rarely think about it,...which suits me fine.

 

 

 

Biggus_Dickus

Slightly left-field of the OP’s thread-starter but here’s a tangible difference between restart & shutdown/boot-up.

I often use my laptop to make ‘WhatsApp’ phone calls but occasionally (and annoyingly) a phone call won’t initiate and I get the message ‘Call failure-No audio facility available’ (or words to that effect). I’ve been unable to identify the cause of this long-standing and intermittent issue and even if I ‘restart’ my laptop several times the problem persists.

However, if I power my laptop off completely using ‘Shutdown’ my ‘WhatsApp’ phone call facility immediately becomes available again when the laptop has fully re-booted.

There are no obvious/intermittent hardware problems with my laptop so far as I’m aware. I experienced the ‘Call failure’ again today and this thread sprung to mind. 🤔

 

 

 

jamesd

The software restart will cause device drivers to tell hardware to reset itself to just had power on state but a power cycle is the way to go if you need the real thing.

Whoever wrote the lifewire description doesn't seem to know the difference and it's not generically true that tech support will say restart or reboot to mean power cycle. Particularly in a corporate setting where the user may have no physical access to the computer and might need a colo's remote hands service if a remotely controlled  - say over the internet - power switch isn't available. In such situations restart and reboot are't synonyms either, because a reboot means a reload the OS from disk using the boot loader in the BIOS not just asking the OS to restart without reloading itself. Windows pieces typically do almost all of the boot loader job these days . Suspected memory corruption fixing is one difference between the two. People in those situations are expected to be competent enough to know the difference and use the appropriate one.

I normally use hybrid sleep instead of restarting or rebooting. That's sleep with an on-disk hibernation file so it recovers even if my battery is exhausted. This doesn't do what software requesting a restart or reboot is after.

prowla

Restart & reboot mean the same thing.