From: this@ddress.is.invalid   
      
   Brian Gregory  wrote:   
   > On 22/12/2025 18:41, Frank Slootweg wrote:   
   > >    Quite the contrary, thank you very much. Why would I waste time   
   > > shutting down and restarting everything, including all programs, just in   
   > > case the problem might be 'fixed' by that? Makes more sense to try a few   
   > > things while the system is up. But as I said, we're used to real systems   
   > > and yes, Windows NT and beyond can behave as a real system, well sort   
   > > of. :-)   
   >   
   > So your system worked, now for some unknown reason it doesn't. You're   
   > not sure why it stopped working. But you NEED to be able to make it work   
   > in the future no matter what.  Do you   
      
     As I said, I don't remember what the problem was, so this is a rather   
   theoretical (non-)discussion. But in any case, it was not that the   
   *system* stopped working, so nothing like a system crash and not even a   
   program crash, just something which didn't work just right and which I   
   could not get to work as it should.   
      
     But let's take a general case of something not working as it should.   
      
   > A) fiddle with it until it seems to be working but and write down the   
   > details of the necessary fiddle in case you need it in the future.   
      
     Yes, I would do that. But I would not 'fiddle' endlessly. There must   
   by some effort-reward tradeoff.   
      
   > B) Reboot and check that that makes it work.   
      
     If not doing A), then B) is often just a hack, i.e. you *hope* that it   
   goes away and stays away, but you have no certainty, let alone guarantee   
   that it stays away.   
      
     Did I already mention that I was a professional troubleshooter for a   
   large part of my working life? :-) It was always A) and only B) as a   
   last resort stop gap until the actual cause was found by continuing A).   
   (See my earlier comment about Five Nines and only 5 *minutes* maximum   
   downtime per *year*.)   
      
   > I'll take B every time.   
   >   
   > I need to make sure I have a simple straightforward way to get the   
   > system running in the future therefore I MUST check that everything   
   > still comes up working correctly after a reboot.   
      
     I have absolutely no reason to think that everything will not come up   
   after a reboot. *If* I needed reassurance, the occasional Windows Update   
   Restart is reassurance enough. And there's always this thing called   
   backup (both system/image backup and file backup).   
      
     But if you feel better by doing frequent restarts/reboots, then by all   
   means do so. Your system, your rules. But also, my system, my rules.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)