1.The process of a working computer system restarting is known as a reboot. Rebooting is sometimes necessary to recover from an error, or to re-initialize drivers or hardware devices. A reboot may be cold (hard) which means the power was physically shut off then turned back on. Or it can be, warm (soft) which means the system restarted without loss of power. The term restart refers to an operating system closing all programs before a warm reboot. The image shows the "Turn off computer" prompt in Windows XP; with the Restart option we mentioned earlier.
Note: Users should only perform a hard reboot if the computer is completely frozen as it may damage hardware components.
- How do I reboot Microsoft Windows?
- Windows restarts without warning.
- How often should I reboot or restart my computer?
- How to turn off, restart, and shut down Linux.
2. Linux users see the reboot command for further information.