Nowadays, with XP or Win7, a PC can easily go weeks without rebooting. Sleep & hibernate modes allow shortcuts to powering down and starting up again.
However, some critical programs use rebooting as the method to trigger an update. Specifically, Adobe Flash does this. If you surf the Web much, you will likely visit pages that require Flash to be installed.
The good news is that Flash does updates right. It lets you know that an update is needed; the update does not try or even offer to install any extra toolbars or software; it cleans up after itself. However, many users ignore the Flash update when they boot up. Perhaps they don't want to bother or are in a hurry to do something else. Others "shut down" their laptops or Windows 7 PCs but are actually hibernating or putting the computer in a low power sleep mode - and not actually rebooting when starting up.
For me, Sleep is the default on my Win7 PC; I need to press the little > button to choose Shut Down or Restart.If you see the Adobe Flash update message, go ahead and follow the prompts. If you never see them, reboot your PC, you might have one long overdue.
Oh, and if your PC takes a long time to boot up, call me (443-451-5230) and I'll help you clean out the startup clutter - even remotely, I can help.
