Why do some computer software updates require a restart and others don’t?
In: Technology
Say you’re holding a piece of paper and I wanted to update for you. You have to give me that paper so I can write on it. In this case, you are the computer using a file and I am an installer updating the new updates onto those files.
In computers, these would be files that your computer uses to run your system, while the computer is using them they can’t always be updated depending on how critical they are. So by restarting the computer, you are effectively not using those files anymore which allows the installer to update those files (you’ll get a loading screen when you restart while this happens).
Sometimes an update is for a non-critical service which can be stopped and restarted since it’s not part of the core functionality of the operating system. Allowing you to continue using the computer while those updates are made to the less critical service.
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