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If your computer does not power itself down, you should not turn off the computer until you see a message indicating that the system is halted or finished shutting down, in order to give the system the time to unmount all partitions. Being impatient may cause data loss.
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4.3. Managing processes
4.3.1. Work for the system admin
While managing system resources, including processes, is a task for the local system administrator, it doesn't hurt a common user to know something about it, especially where his or her own processes and their optimal execution are concerned.
We will explain a little bit on a theoretical level about system performance, though not as far as hardware optimization and other advanced procedures. Instead, we will study the daily problems a common user is confronted with, and actions such a user can take to optimally use the resources available. As we learn in the next section, this is mainly a matter of thinking before acting.
Figure 4-2. Can't you go faster?

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