Reboot vs. Reset: What’s the Difference?
By Marco Horn / Tim Fisher
How reboot and reset differ and why it matters
What does it mean to reboot? Is rebooting the same as restarting? What about resetting a computer, router, phone, etc.? It might seem silly to distinguish them from each other but among these three terms are actually two entirely separate meanings!
The reason it’s important to know the difference between restart and reset is because they do two very different things, despite sounding like the same word. One is much more destructive and permanent than the other, and there are plenty of scenarios where you need to know which action to perform in order to complete a certain task.
All of this might sound cryptic and confusing, especially when you throw in variations like soft reset and hard reset, but keep reading to learn what’s really meant by these terms so that you’ll know exactly what’s being asked of you when one of these terms shows up in a troubleshooting guide or someone in Tech Support asks you to do one or the other.
