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How to Turn Off a Personal Computer

In today's day and age, it is not necessary to turn off your computer unless if you are making changes to the hardware, booting into a different operating system, or trying to save battery, or if your computer is running slow. Turning off...
Method 1 of 2:

Windows

Through Start

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    Click on the Start
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    button. It is in the bottom left hand corner, unless you moved your taskbar. Even then, your start button is located in the bottom left corner on Windows 8, it is just hidden.
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    Click on the power
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    button. This is where you will find a bunch of power options, including to shut down, restart, and sleep, as well as hibernate (Windows 7) and user options.
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    Click on the appropriate option. Here are the options:
    1. Shut down - shuts down the computer, and installs any Windows Updates.
    2. Restart - shuts down the computer, installs any Windows Updates, and starts your computer again. Useful if your computer is having trouble with hardware and programs.
    3. Sleep - turns off your computer's display and temporarily halts any running programs.
    4. Hibernate - turns off your computer and saves your data to a hibernation file. Useful for airplanes where devices need to be powered down for a period of time.
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    Confirm that you want to shut down/restart your computer if other users are logged in. This can be done by clicking on Shutdown/Restart anyway or Yes.
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    Force a shut down/restart if programs are not responding. Click on Shutdown/Restart anyway or Force shutdown/restart to force a shutdown or restart.

From the Desktop or Taskbar

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    Press Alt+F4. This will not close your taskbar or desktop, it will bring a popup window.
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    Click on the appropriate option. Here are the options:
    1. Shut down - shuts down the computer, and installs any Windows Updates.
    2. Restart - shuts down the computer, installs any Windows Updates, and starts your computer again. Useful if your computer is having trouble with hardware and programs.
    3. Sleep - turns off your computer's display and temporarily halts any running programs.
    4. Hibernate - turns off your computer and saves your data to a hibernation file. Useful for airplanes where devices need to be powered down for a period of time.
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    Click on OK.
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    Confirm that you want to shut down/restart your computer if other users are logged in. This can be done by clicking on Shutdown/Restart anyway or Yes.
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    Force a shut down/restart if programs are not responding. Click on Shutdown/Restart anyway or Force shutdown/restart to force a shutdown or restart.

Through the Taskbar Right-click Menu

  1. Locate the start button on the task bar. This is usually in the bottom left corner. Then, right-click.
  2. On the right-click menu, choose "Shut down or sign out".
  3. In the "Shut down or sign out" menu, choose Sleep, Shutdown or Restart.
  4. Confirm that you want to shut down/restart your computer if other users are logged in. This can be done by clicking on Shutdown/Restart anyway or Yes.
  5. Force a shut down/restart if programs are not responding. Click on Shutdown/Restart anyway or Force shutdown/restart to force a shutdown or restart.

From Command Prompt or Powershell

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    Open Command Prompt or Powershell. Type cmd.exe or powershell.exe to start either of the two respectively.
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    Type shutdown -action to shutdown your computer. Here are the codes.
    1. -s: shuts down your computer.
    2. -r: restarts your computer.
    3. -h: hibernates your computer.
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    Force a shut down/restart if programs are not responding. Click on Shutdown/Restart anyway or Force shutdown/restart to force a shutdown or restart.

From the Settings Charm

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    Open the charms bar. This is available on Windows 8 and Windows 8.1, and can be done by swiping left from the right, or by moving your mouse to either of the right corners. Then choose
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    Settings.
    1. You can also find the settings key on your keyboard to do this.
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    Choose
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    Power. Then choose the appropriate option:
    1. Shut down - shuts down the computer, and installs any Windows Updates.
    2. Restart - shuts down the computer, installs any Windows Updates, and starts your computer again. Useful if your computer is having trouble with hardware and programs.
    3. Sleep - turns off your computer's display and temporarily halts any running programs.
  3. How to Turn Off a Personal Computer Picture 20How to Turn Off a Personal Computer Picture 20
    Confirm that you want to shut down/restart your computer if other users are logged in. This can be done by clicking on Shutdown/Restart anyway or Yes.
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    Force a shut down/restart if programs are not responding. Click on Shutdown/Restart anyway or Force shutdown/restart to force a shutdown or restart.

From the Lock Screen/Control-Alt-Delete Screen

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    Choose
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    Power in the bottom right corner. Then choose the appropriate option.
    1. To emergency restart (if you ran out of RAM or CPU processing), press Ctrl+Alt+Delete, hold Control while clicking power, then click on "Yes".
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    Click on the appropriate option. Here are the options:
    1. Shut down - shuts down the computer, and installs any Windows Updates.
    2. Restart - shuts down the computer, installs any Windows Updates, and starts your computer again. Useful if your computer is having trouble with hardware and programs.
    3. Sleep - turns off your computer's display and temporarily halts any running programs.
    4. Hibernate - turns off your computer and saves your data to a hibernation file. Useful for airplanes where devices need to be powered down for a period of time.
  3. How to Turn Off a Personal Computer Picture 25How to Turn Off a Personal Computer Picture 25
    Confirm that you want to shut down/restart your computer if other users are logged in. This can be done by clicking on Shutdown/Restart anyway or Yes.
  4. How to Turn Off a Personal Computer Picture 26How to Turn Off a Personal Computer Picture 26
    Force a shut down/restart if programs are not responding. Click on Shutdown/Restart anyway or Force shutdown/restart to force a shutdown or restart.

On InstantGo

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    Hold the power button of your computer for five seconds.
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    Drag the screen down.
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    Force a shut down/restart if programs are not responding. Click on Shutdown/Restart anyway or Force shutdown/restart to force a shutdown or restart.
Method 2 of 2:

Mac

From the Apple Menu

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    Click on the
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    Apple menu, then choose the appropriate option:
    1. Shut down - shuts down the computer, and installs any Windows Updates.
    2. Restart - shuts down the computer, installs any Windows Updates, and starts your computer again. Useful if your computer is having trouble with hardware and programs.
    3. Sleep - turns off your computer's display and temporarily halts any running programs.
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    Confirm that you want to shut down/restart your computer if other users are logged in. This can be done by entering an administrator username and password and clicking Shutdown/Restart

From the Login Screen

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    Click on the Shutdown, Restart, or Sleep button.
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    Confirm that you want to shut down/restart your computer if other users are logged in. This can be done by entering an administrator username and password and clicking Shutdown/Restart

From Terminal

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    Open Terminal.
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    Type sudo reboot to restart or sudo halt to shut down. You will not be prompted for the shutdown, but may be prompted for an administrator username and password.
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