Proper way to turn computer off at night?

Question

At the end of the day we always shut down the computer, I prefer to use the little key, which says you can safely shut down your system. My husband always uses the other little box, and just shuts down the system.. Or is there any need to be concerned on which is used?

Answer 1

Use the proper shut down through software. Most computers are equipped with TWO switches.

The pushbutton on the front activates the proper shut down through software. The switch in the back, on the power unit, is a cold shut off of the power.

Either or is perfectly fine, so long as it is actually going through the shut down software. Directly obstructing the power, through unplugging or turning the switch off in the back, is the thing you should be concerned about.

You're doing the same thing, you're just doing it with different means.

Answer 2

I am not sure what you mean by "the other little box" for your husband, but...

You want to do a proper shut down. You can do that from the Start button, select Shut down at the bottom of the menu. In the little box that appears, select "Shut down" and click OK.

You should see it closing Windows down, and eventually it will (on newer PCs) shut it off for you, or on older PCs tell you it is safe to shut down and then you turn off the power yourself.

It is NOT a good idea to just turn off the power while Windows is still running. That can corrupt the Windows system files and might prevent you from being able to restart your computer.

Hope that is clear enough for you....

Answer 3

If you are using windows, go to Start, shut down/turn off computer and shut down/turn. Then turn it off at the wall. That's all you need to do. Any other way could make you lose data.

Answer 4

It depends which filesystem you're using, but usually the best way is to select "shutdown" from the system's user interface. This allows the system time to flush any disk buffers to the physical device.

Answer 5

Click Start > Shutdown