Does Windows XP lose any sort of performance when not rebooting for a long period of time?

[PoisonCandyGram]

I was having a discussion with my friend and was wondering if it does. Is there any sort of performance hit when not rebooting for extended periods of time? Thanks.

 

[velis]

I run my computers 24/7 only rebooting when updates or new installs force me.
I have not noticed any performance degradation whatsoever.
Oh, both computers are quite heavily used, one sees many starts/stops of multiple server, development and other tool applications, the other suffers the same with games, development tools and simpler applications.

 

[nweaver]

I would say that XP (esp. when compared to a 9X based system) does NOT degrade significantly. I reboot a (fairly) heavily used XP Pro box about once a week, or every other week, depending on if S/W is working. Usually it's rebooted beacause of bad software, and not a slow OS too.


On the other hand, I wish it would be more like linux, where I only reboot if I get a new kernal.

 

[MrChad]

I only reboot XP when I apply security updates.

 

[Genx87]

If I wasnt such a cheap bastard my XP box at home would rarely be rebooted. In 2001 I had my 2K workstation at home running for over 90 days without an issue before finally applying patches and rebooting.

 

[Markbnj]

XP Pro here. I don't reboot unless something changes, i.e. an install or hardware. I do that fairly often, so I probably reboot once every two weeks at worst. But it is never because the o/s performance has degraded.

 

[imported_goku]

I've got XP Pro here, it runs wonderfully. I've had this install since may and it's been running great. The last time I had installed XP (before then) was back in August 2004.

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: PoisonCandyGram
I was having a discussion with my friend and was wondering if it does. Is there any sort of performance hit when not rebooting for extended periods of time? Thanks.

No.

 

[MadOni0n]

wow, so you guys never shut down your pcs overnight or anything? or are we just talking about clicking reboot in the middle of a session for performance?

 

[Panther505]

I think that mine has been up without a reboot since about the 22 of August.

Yes that means no updates but since it never sees the web and has no email client on it. I don't worry about it (my primary box is a linux box, this one is only to do video capture on).

I only reboot when I lose power or leave town for the weekend.

Panther505

 

[Nothinman]

wow, so you guys never shut down your pcs overnight or anything?

Why would you? Recent machines should have decent power management so the power usage can be toned down when you're not using it. Worst case you can hibernate it and shut it off completely.

 

[MadOni0n]

well the cool and silent (i think thats what its called) from and doesnt work on my mobo vnf3-250. are you sure there the memory doesnt fill up or anything? is that a myth? after restarting it feels i run alot better.

 

[yuchai]

Originally posted by: MadOni0n
well the cool and silent (i think thats what its called) from and doesnt work on my mobo vnf3-250. are you sure there the memory doesnt fill up or anything? is that a myth? after restarting it feels i run alot better.

Cool n' Quiet on VNF3-250 does work if only 1 DIMM is populated.

Back on topic, I haven't felt performance degration over long periods between reboots on windows OSes since Win2K.

 

[larryj133]

For most applications I don't notice any performance degredation. However, when I play Madden 2003 I get a poor framerate (jerky player animations) if I don't reboot. Not sure why Madden is affected.

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: MadOni0n
wow, so you guys never shut down your pcs overnight or anything? or are we just talking about clicking reboot in the middle of a session for performance?

Mine autoreboots in the middle of the night whenever security updates get released. Other than that it stays running 24/7. Wouldn't have it any other way.

 

[MadOni0n]

and your computers are in your room? doesnt it annoy you when you sleep?

 

[stash]

I can't sleep without the sound of at least one computer in my room. Seriously.

I need to have computers, car horns, sirens, people yelling to sleep.

 

[Nothinman]

are you sure there the memory doesnt fill up or anything?

Sure it fills up, otherwise what would be the point in owning it? But the OS manages what resides in memory. But memory management is an extremely complicated topic and would be very difficult to explain properly here. If you're really interested grab a book like "Inside Windows" or "Understanding the Linux kernel", there are differences in how each OS manages memory but the basics will apply to any modern OS.

I can't sleep without the sound of at least one computer in my room. Seriously.

I'm not quite that bad, but yea if there is complete silence it takes me longer to fall asleep.

 

[azev]

I agree with Stash, I aslo cannot sleep when its too silent. Spending most of my day in server room got me used to the fan noise
Btw, I normally never reboot my computer unless I have too, but my new computer with only 512MB ran out of memory pretty fast, and start swapping files.
1GB chip is on the way from newegg, and as soon as thats in, no more rebooting for me.

 

[gsellis]

XP? No. You could have applications or device drivers with memory leaks that could force you to restart to recover that memory (or the application, but usually you cannot restart the device driver or identify it without better tools).

I have restarted my computer recently for the following reasons: Application destroyed the mouse pointer to a stuck hourglass, left for 4 days, installed a new DVD drive (and did it again because I had the wrong jumper setting), installed a hotfix that required a reboot. That is over the last month.

I have not restarted when the printer went south (fix - c:>net stop spooler \ c:>net start spooler)