For my Linux laptop: once every couple of weeks or so. It wouldn't even be that often, but every once in a while I'll suspend it by closing the lid, and when I reopen it, it won't come out of suspend without a power cycle. Doesn't happen very often, and boots are super fast, and all my apps auto-restart, so I don't really worry about it.
Ask HN: How often do you restart your computer?
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Re: Ask HN: How often do you restart your computer?
#22Re: Ask HN: How often do you restart your computer?
#23Every week or so. I have a feeling stuff starts to run smoother. And I also tell macos to not recover the windows. I like a fresh start.
Re: Ask HN: How often do you restart your computer?
#24Re: Ask HN: How often do you restart your computer?
#25Re: Ask HN: How often do you restart your computer?
#26Re: Ask HN: How often do you restart your computer?
#27Re: Ask HN: How often do you restart your computer?
#28For the record I just have a regular MBA if this is relevant to turning computers off and on again.
Re: Ask HN: How often do you restart your computer?
#29Whenever Windows wants to update; if I have some driver issue, especially for gaming; if I want to not have it heat my room staying on all night, especially in the summer.
Re: Ask HN: How often do you restart your computer?
#30Every single time.
Whenever I think there's a possibility that the need to reboot has not been overcome since the DOS days and W9x.
I find many more unexpected needs to restart in Windows NT6.
Unless your PC is miserably encumbered, it only takes a few seconds to reboot or cold start, so why hesitate.
Reboot early and often.
>I'm old enough to remember the times when computers were restarted regularly
During those same times I remember other operators who never wanted to turn off their computers for any reason, almost acting like they were mainframes and afraid they might not boot back up.
Looking at the answers, here's my anecdata: I usually only turn one on when I'm really working on it, and completely power down when finished.
Never hibernate or sleep, why bother?
OTOH the ones I had at work hooked up to scientific instruments never get turned off for years, except for power failures in excess of battery backup time. Once I got IT out of the lab it was possible to craft Windows XP for far more reliability than they had dreamed about, or achieved since on their office machines with NT6.