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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.
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?