Despite appearing to be a word, the term "power cycle" is more frequently used as a verb. To power cycle a gadget is to switch it off and on again in plain English. For instance, if a router stops answering, the user guide might instruct you to power reset the router. This may entail turning the power off and back on again, or it may be necessary to manually remove the gadget before replugging it. Resetting a gadget is frequently confused with power switching.

Computer hardware can occasionally be rather temperamental, as is well known. Ten minutes after it started functioning normally, a device might start behaving oddly or stop reacting altogether. Sometimes a low-tech remedy like shutting the gadget off and back on again will solve the issue. This is due to the possibility that data in the device's Memory became tainted and caused the device to stop or pause on a specific command.

The Memory is cleared when the device is powered off, enabling it to start up with new data. Usually it is a good idea to wait 5 to 10 seconds before turning the device back on to make sure it has opportunity to completely reboot. Of course, if you have to reset your computer, you should save any active work you have since it will be deleted from the Memory if you don't.