Windows 8.1 uptime in task manager?

Gerard · 19 Jun 2014 at 21:29

What exactly does this denote? Seems my pc can be on for an hour or 2 and its reading something like 2 days uptime, I just booted my pc after having it off for a few hours and its now reading: 3:05:10 :confused:

Always assumed uptime was the duration the pc has been left on for. :confused:

UnworthyBean · 19 Jun 2014 at 21:33

Believe its something to do with the fast startup feature of Windows 8. It doesn't shutdown fully to speed up start up times.

Gerard · 19 Jun 2014 at 21:40

Odd way to do it if so, I was thinking my pc was somehow on when I was out after seeing strange uptimes when I knew it wasn't on.

Sighn · 20 Jun 2014 at 23:22

Likely resets after a restart.

Craig321 · 20 Jun 2014 at 23:28

Not sure what you're doing but mine accurately reads the uptime of my machine.

Doesn't reset, just stops counting if/when you just sleep.

V F · 20 Jun 2014 at 23:34

UnworthyBean said:
Believe its something to do with the fast startup feature of Windows 8. It doesn't shutdown fully to speed up start up times.

Sighn said:
Likely resets after a restart.

This is true.

Marzipanogram · 21 Jun 2014 at 11:45

It's how long your PC has been connected to a BotNet

demonix · 21 Jun 2014 at 15:42

V F said:
This is true.

The first part is as when you shut down using the options presented to you by the OS, it is actually more of a hybrid sleep mode even though the computer is actually switched off.

You can, however, create a shortcut that links to shutdown.exe which fully shuts down the computer when it's used (there should be a few posts lingering around the forum with what you have to do to create the shortcut, or there should be some resources on the internet that can help).

this_is_gav · 21 Jun 2014 at 15:48

Yeah this shutdown/startup thing is great for speed, but it has a couple of odd side effects. I noticed today that my computer was still waiting to restart to complete updates installed on the 17th, despite the fact that it has been shut down and started every day since, so when I did a restart earlier (tool-tip that wouldn't disappear), it finished completing the update installation.

Not entirely sure how Microsoft expect updates to be installed if they aren't done on startup/shutdown, as it's very rare I restart a PC, and I'm sure most users (stable) computers are the same.

Orcvader · 21 Jun 2014 at 17:54

I turned off fast startup, and StartIsBack allows the option of the PC to update itself when turning off like previous versions of Windows.

I found fast startup to cause problems for me to be honest, the homegroup icon kept popping up on the desktop when I turned my PC on.

Sighn · 21 Jun 2014 at 18:54

Strange. I get the option for W.Updates to install via Restart or Shutdown. I've got fast boot on.

theheyes · 21 Jun 2014 at 19:07

this_is_gav said:
Not entirely sure how Microsoft expect updates to be installed if they aren't done on startup/shutdown, as it's very rare I restart a PC, and I'm sure most users (stable) computers are the same.

It just pesters you to restart before doing it itself in X number of days in my experience.

this_is_gav · 21 Jun 2014 at 19:21

theheyes said:
It just pesters you to restart before doing it itself in X number of days in my experience.

Nothing has appeared, though now you bring it up, it did in the past. I remember you could tell it to remind you in 4 hours, but I've not seen that for a good few months now. Possibly as long ago as I installed 8.1.

It doesn't bother me personally, but if this is something more widespread it's a bit of a headscratcher.