academic question

I have a question that may seem trite and trivial, but I am still have a steep learning curve in many aspects of PC operation and theory. I recently was watching two video programs with VideoLAN media player and noticed the videos were jumpy and rough. I tried watching the same programs with Windows Media Player and encountered the same result. I had 4 Internet Explorer windows and several PC folders (Pictures, Videos, Downloads) open. I then recalled I hadn't shut down my PC in 2 days and shut down and rebooted the PC. I opened the same IE windows and PC folders opened the same videos in VideoLAN media player and now they play flawlessly. What was occurring that a reboot fixed?

Thanks for your reading and any responses--and your indulgence .

 

Probably had all kinds of things contending for RAM, and it's possible that you had a display driver reset or something and that can really affect video performance until a restart.

 

Thanks much for the informative responses, I understand the situation better now--and why periodic rebooting is important.