A tid bit of info (reboot is not the same as init 6)

[Rudge]

When I did my upgrade to KDE 4.10.1 synaptic instructed me to open a root console and enter "init 6".

When I shutdown via a root console I typically use "shutdown -r now"  or on rare occasions I have used the "reboot" command.

Never have I ever used "init 6". Well, this got my research cap itchy to find out what the difference really was and this is what I found...

" In Linux, the init 6 command gracefully reboots the system running all the K* shutdown scripts first, before rebooting.  The reboot command does a very quick reboot.  It doesn’t execute any kill scripts, but just unmounts filesystems and restarts the system.  The reboot command is more forceful.

So, should I use reboot or init 6?  – neither!  My advice is to use the shutdown command.  shutdown will do a similar job to init 6, but it has more options and a better default action.  Along with kicking off an init 6, the shutdown command will also notify all logged in users (logged in at a tty), notify all processes the system is going down and by default will pause  for a set time before rebooting (giving you the chance to cancel the reboot if you realize that you made a mistake).  Jolly civil. "

http://www.vreference.com/2009/09/23/reboot-is-not-the-same-as-init-6/

Also

""reboot" is more a kernel level command and normally does not call the shutdown scripts for applications. But it will work even if you have a truncated $PATH variable.

"init 6" depends a lot of the /etc/inittab files and gurantees that the shutdown scripts will be called for each application that is defined.

Use init 6 for all normal operations.

Use reboot for problematic situations, or to force a reboot. "

http://nuwan-asanka.blogspot.com/2012/04/init-6-vs-reboot.html

I thought it was interesting and it was all something I did not know.    

[agmg]

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,114334.msg975255.html#msg975255

[Rudge]

Well,,,, that's embarrassing. Sorry LOL.   

[agmg]

Well,,,, that's embarrassing. Sorry LOL.   

It wasn't my intention to make you feel embarassed, sorry.
Just wanted to add some more info provided by other members in that topic... 

[craesz]

Well,,,, that's embarrassing. Sorry LOL.   

Shouldn't be. You provided more information... Before this install/upgrade I had no idea that init 6 existed or reboot for that matter. I've always used shutdown -r now. Based on the above, init 6 looks to be the better solution.

[Tony]

We learn something new everyday, which is beautiful thing. I'm a bit late to this but appreciate Rudge's research.
init 6 ?
http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,114334.msg974908.html#msg974908
Personally, as I read the info about updating from 4.9.5 to 4.10.1, i was instructed to:

Note: Due to a change in the KDE 4.10 source code, a patch for QT4 had to be applied to overcome a plasma crash. For this reason, and only after the initial upgrade from 4.9.5 to 4.10.1, you must reboot your PC by opening a root-terminal and enter the command: init 6

I believe it freed the System to apply the updates comfortably.

[pinoc]

too much fuss about nothing: due to the changes in plasma in 4.10.1 the graphical logout or reboot  does not work, so you use "init 6" from a terminal to achieve that, after the reboot the new configs are loaded and all is back to normal, that is all. 
-p.

[Tony]

With great respect pinoc, I felt I said it very succinctly:

init 6 ?
I believe it freed the System to apply the updates comfortably.

[menotu]

going off at a tangent.........

init is also (wrongly) used in the UK as slang (laziness) for isn't it. which I believe is short for Is it not? ??

[Tony]

ooh, very tangential menotu; plus I'm really going to 'muck up' by digressing that "init" is a favourite word of mine, when used in the phrase, "It's a funny old world init." I best leave it alone, ...