Losing logging out refresh

It might not have been common knowledge, but one of the quickest ways to fix problems was to log out and log back in again. This shut down all your user processes, only to start them up again suitably refreshed. Just a few seconds could then spare you the time and tedium of a full restart.

I’ve even known macOS use this manoeuvre itself, when WindowServer – the key process which composites your windows for display – was in trouble. Once the user was logged out, WindowServer could be safely restarted, and sometimes avoid leading on to a kernel panic.

But now, for the sake of speed, many user processes are left running once you’ve logged out, and don’t get refreshed like they used to. Although not entirely without merit, logging out and back in isn’t as effective a solution as it once was.