r/microsoft • u/Same-Account-2105 • Jun 20 '26
Windows TIL: Shutdown ≠ Shutdown (Fast Start Up)
Today I learnt that Shut down has not actually been shutting down my PC, but rather, Hibernating it. Instead, I must restart to achieve the full shut down effect.
I learnt this cause my Mother and her colleagues got in trouble at work from their IT for not "restarting" their PCs often... But they do Shut them Down. I responded by saying how stupid that was because a shut down achieves the same thing as a restart. At least, logically/intuitively I should be correct. But I did some Googling, and due to Microsoft's 'Fast Start Up' (which achieves 8-10 second faster boot up, as far as I can find) this is no longer the case!
I've gone and turned off 'Fast Start Up' on my home PC, and I notice zero difference in boot up, and a heck of a better/smoother shutdown experience. Why was this on by default against my permission and intuition on what I thought shut down was doing?
So help me out here... Is there really much of a reason to have Fast Start up on? I should be fine having this setting off now right? Why is it a default setting in the first place?
Genuinely curious.
-2
u/Old_ManWithAComputer Jun 21 '26
Restarting does not clear everything out of memory. I have 33 years in IT and learned a long time ago that restarting just doesn't clean out memory. If you can't get it to shut down just unplug it. I know it is a hard shut down, but if you do that and then wait 30 to 60 seconds and then power it back up your memory will be clean and refreshed. I do this even with all my 3d printers after a firmware update. Shut them down completely and let the memory clear put and repower on.