The real reason your laptop needs to restart to install updates

Why do computers and consoles need to restart to install updates? © Getty Images

When a computer is running software, it loads much of the program into its memory.

If we managed to update that same software on the hard disk or solid state drive (SSD), then the program may panic as everything will be different – it won’t be able to find the files that were there a moment ago. The version in memory will not be compatible with the version on the hard disk or SSD. Lots of errors will be thrown and your computer may crash.

To prevent this, operating systems usually insist that when major updates are needed, we shut down the software being updated, then restart with the new software installed.

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Asked by: Betty Dixon, Stoke-on-Trent

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