The resetting of Prefs has been around Photoshop, almost from its introduction. The PREF file(s), can be corrupted, and it seems by myriad factors. That said, I have used PS from the very beginning on a PC, and have only had to trash my PERF once, when an auto update of another program hit, during a Save for a very large PSD. That is over about 20 years of extensive use. However, corruption happens often enough, that most forum folk have the tips bookmarked to help all the users, who do experience issues.
Good luck,
Hunt