One of the differences is a ctrl-alt-del will give your hard drive a chance to finish writing to disk anything it may be in the
middle of writing at the time.  The power and reset buttons both interrupt the hard drive regardless of any tasks it may be
doing.  The result is corrupted files if it was in the middle of a write to disk.  If you must use the power or reset button to
reboot, try to wait until the hard drive light is out and has been out for a second or two before doing the deed.  Sometimes
it's unavoidable though.

 The person who tells you to wait 10 seconds before switching the power back on is from an old school of computers.  Which I
happen to agree.  Years ago, which in comptuer years is eons, circuitry was very susceptible to residual power in capacitors,
resistors, etc.  A way to avoid the detremental effects of the residual power was to wait for it to clear out.  Hence, the 10
second pause.  Todays circuitry doesn't seem to be very sensitive to this residual power and therefore many people don't wait to
switch the power on.  I still wait at least 10 seconds before I cycle the power on; old habits die hard.




> Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 19:49:33 -0600
> From: William Hornkohl <[log in to unmask]>
>
> When I talk to someone from tech support, and they tell me to change
> something ,they usually say I have to restart the computer. They say to
> press the reset button ,sometimes press alt-ctrl-del twice and sometimes
> they say it has to be a complete shut down for ten seconds (or more).
> Can someone explain the difference between the three  restart methods
> and why one would be better (or necessary) in any given circumstances.
> Bill Hornkohl    [log in to unmask]
>



--
Nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
                                                 William Shakespeare