VPSMALHOTRA'S GLEANINGS aka COLLECTIONS: How to shut down Windows 8 and Windows RT

How to shut down Windows 8 and Windows RT
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You can indeed shut down a device running Microsoft Windows 8. There are many easy ways to accomplish the task.

Here’s a little secret: Once you go to the desktop interface of

Windows 8 it is pretty much just Windows 7. Shutting the computer down. The official shutdown button is located within the charms bar, which you can reveal by hovering the mouse cursor in the bottom-right corner. That concept may work for a tablet, but on the desktop, that is hardly acceptable.

Fortunately, Windows 8 is so much like Windows 7 that we can use an old trick by using the shutdown shortcut.

Creating a shortcut

Creating a shortcut should be familiar to almost everyone, but with Windows 8 there is one extra step.

Click the desktop tile to get to the desktop interface. Once you are at the desktop, right-click on a clear spot and navigate to New | Shortcut. When you click the Shortcut menu item, you will arrive at the input screen. This is where you will enter the specific command strings to make your new shortcut do what you want it to do.

For our example, we will enter the specific command that will shut down Windows 8. Type the following command into the box and then click next.

shutdown.exe -s -t 00

The next screen asks you to name the shortcut. I suggest you name the shortcut to correspond to the action it will perform.

Technically, you could stop here, but I prefer to give these shortcuts an icon that will help me remember what it is they do. In Windows 8, changing an icon is done exactly the same as it was in Windows 7.

Right-click on the icon in question to get the context menu and then navigate to the Properties menu item.

From the Properties control panel, select the Change Icon button. Windows 8 will warn you about changing icons, but just click OK anyway.

The next screen will show you a list of potential icons; choose the one you want to use and click the OK button twice.

Note: There are no new icons in the system32.dll for Windows 8, which is sort of disappointing.

You should now have a new shortcut on your desktop. When you click the shortcut, Windows 8 will shut down, so make sure you save your work before you test it.

However, in Windows 8 or Windows RT, there is really no need to shut down your PC completely, put it in sleep mode instead. This uses very little power and your PC will start up faster. you will not loose your work because windows will automatically turn it off and save your works if the battery is too low.

Note that, for most laptops and tablets, sleep is the default shutdown mode, so all you need to do is close your lid or press the power button. If it isn't, you can change that.

To set sleep as the default shutdown option

Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, and then tap Search.

If you're using a mouse, point to the upper-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, and then click Search.

Enter power, tap or click Settings, and then tap or click Power options.

Do one of the following:

If you’re using a desktop or tablet, tap or click Choose what the power button does and under Power button settings, select Sleep and tap or click Save changes.

If you’re using a laptop, tap or click Choose what closing the lid does. Then, next to When I close the lid, choose what you want your laptop to do, both for when it's running on battery and when it's plugged in, and then tap or click Save changes.

When you’re ready to put your PC into sleep mode, just close your laptop's lid or press the power button on your desktop or tablet.

To turn off your PC completely

Close any desktop apps you have open.

Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, and then tap Settings.

Tap or click Power, and then tap or click Shut down.

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