Discussion on:

How do I shutdown Windows 8

What other features or elements have you found quirky about Windows 8?

Just press Win+I and you get the Shut Down button right there.

Same as always.

Does anyone know what the command sequence is to create a shortcut for Log Off?

Also, I'm wondering if there is any way to save these articles as a download?

Thanks!

If you want to log off then rather use the keyboard shortcut (Winkey+L). It will be way easier.

but users are going to want a shortcut. If MS's goal is for everyone to revert to keyboard shortcuts, why have a GUI at all?

There's no way that I could get all of my users to remember the shortcuts. I wonder if you could set a policy for default profile for all of your users that would default the workstation/laptop to "desktop" so the users would never see the metro interface? I know we can now, but Win8 looks so screwy that I'm not sure what works and what doesn't. If you can, then we could put the shortcuts in as a default profile as well.

They'll have to see the Start screen sooner or later. Are you going to create shortcuts for all apps for all users? The common ones won't be any problem, but there are always those niche applications run by a handful of users. Do you want to bother creating OUs and a policy to target them?

The majority of our apps are web-based and launch off of a dashboard on our intranet. They have plug-ins that have to be installed, and you can usually launch them from the PC, but we have very few that we cannot launch that way, so the app shortcuts would be fairly minimal for the clinical staff. The non-clinical staff is another story.

Windows L is "lock" not log off. I know this because I press it every time I get up from my desk.

That was one of the first things I noticed about Win8 when i installed the preview on a VM: I felt trapped. There's no easy way to discover how to change the environment: add and remove software, shut down, restart, etc. So after I'd finished testing its IE10 browser on a site, I haven't booted that OS since.

format c\:

install Ubuntu / Mint / OS X etc....

EASY!

.

Holy cow! That's *so* very clever!! And oh so original, too. You are a laugh riot! I bet you're a real charm at parties.

Found this yesterday.
http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/

Microsoft's new pay for use program requires you to purchase a new copy of Windows 8 every time you use it.

Since we are talking about a notebook, why not simply press the power button?

That's just silly it's not that hard to find the power down button. Go to the bottom right hand corner Go to the gear "Settings" at the bottom of resulting menu is the power button.

Also launch Powershell and type "Stop-Computer"

You think that 1500 users, most of which only use a computer at work, and can't even find a power button will know to go to settings, get the menu and find what they need, or be able to launch powershell?

No, what's good for the techs is one thing, but we have to think about our customer base (unlike Microsoft) and make their jobs as easy as possible, especially, when the computer is supposed to be a tool that they use to assist in their primary job. Someone sitting at a desk has the luxury of figuring this stuff out, but my nurses and doctors need to focus on their patients, not on figuring out the magic combination to reboot the workstation.

Mark, thanks for providing a work-around for something MS should have included in the first place.

Now, can anyone tell me how the bottom left hot spot is supposed to work? I move my cursor to the bottom left, the 'Start' button appears, but when I move my cursor to click on it, it goes away.

That works for me.

In a sense, one might think the article is a prank. I realize Windows 8 is in beta, but for a user to need to "create" a way to shun down a device is archaic. I just use the power button and that works very well.

Plus, on a laptop, that's likely only going to put it in sleep or hibernation instead of shutting it down.

doesn't a hard power down eventually cause issues? I know if you didn't shutdown gracefully in older version, you eventually got all sorts of issues. Even on Windows 7, when we lost electricity during the tornado, and my workstation lost power (this building is not on generator), when I was finally able to power up, I got the message about the shutdown and I needed to scan the disk, blah blah blah.

If you can shut down gracefully, won't it be a better choice than just powering off? I guess we could do what a user of mine did years ago... when she left for the night, she just stomped the power strip under her desk, which cut power, then stomped it again in the morning. After the 4th pc replacement in 4 months, I had her demonstrate how she powered off at night. When I threatened, er, educated her, the workstation didn't have to be replaced for years after that.

I wouldn't do it by preference. I'd always go for the clean shutdown if possible. When it isn't possible, I usually perform one immediately after logging back on.

Windows 7 and 8 come with pushing the power button as the default method of doing a software shutdown. Holding it for 5 seconds will cause a hardware shutdown and should only be used when all else fails.

you go "charms", "settings", "power". Doesn't matter if your in Metro or Desktop mode, nor does it matter if your working from a desktop, laptop, or tablet, and finally it doesn't matter if you access your charms with touch from the side or mouse one of the right corners. EASY! The idea that a "tech" website is suggesting people create work arounds for such simple tasks instead of just learning HOW to use a new operating system should be embarrassing for you. NOW if you wanted to just write an article complaining that win8 "consumer" preview doesn't seem to have basic user operating instructions leaving a person to randomly push things till they get their machine to work I'd support that. How do you get "tech" writers that are afraid of change...? The first "APP" in metro should be "how to use Win8"!!!

This shutdown shortcut trick has been around for years and for many versions of Windows. It is traditionally one of the first tip articles we do on TechRepublic for each new version of Windows. Personally, my bias is not use a shortcut because it is unnecessary, but then I don't usually try to impose my bias on everyone else.

They keep omitting more and more with each new version of Windows, so end users essentially will have to finish designing the user interface themselves. Before you know it, they'll be back to DOS, and we'll have to design our own interface from the ground up.

I'm hoping it's just an oversight, and when Win8 is finalized, they will have a sensible shutdown button that's not hidden in some unseen corner of the screen. But it doesn't look too promising. Is Microsoft really that stupid, or do they just hate their customers and want to see how much abuse they'll take?

There are many features of windows 8 among them the grouping of apps and on screen key boards are cool features.

Being that Windows 8 is not just for PCs and that most other devices require a phyical button to power down the device, I'm guessing that Microsoft's intent is for PC users to either let their PC's hibernate to make the user hit the PC's power button. I think that the missing shutdown command wouldn't be a big deal if user's were informed of the reason for it missing.

Does the "Alt" "F4" function not work? There is no need to add clutter when such an easy option is readily available.

Is it just me or has the meaning of "New and Improved" now turned into: "Jump through more hoops".
Shutting down a computer is a simple task that shouldn't be made complicated.
Come on Microsoft, fix it for the final release.

I haven't played with W8 yet - do I need to brush up on my DOS to work with it?

No, that shortcut doesn't work. I've tried both - X, and / X. But even the Windows 8 shutdown (Settings > Power > Shutdown) doesn't do anything! AS for "finding your way around", that's difficult when you can't even close programs! Sometimes Alt-F4 works, but not all the time! I usually get (XXX not responding), and have to hard power off!
Even Solitaire is slow!
AMD 2.2 ... 4 gig mem. New SATA drive.
Tried "Optimizing" the hard drive - after 2 DAYS it got to 41% and quit responding!
No problems at all installing on the new hard drive - no errors, or indication of not meeting minimum standards.

Just visited www.startmenu7.com and downloaded the Windows 7 startmenu freeware product. It senses Windows 8 and installs giving the user a familiar feel to the desktop.

It works within the Desktop metro environment but it does 'stick' in some instances, clicking the options button (bottom RH corner of Startmenu display) corrects this.

The familiar Windows 7 Power down options menu is displayed giving access to all the options.

Can't get it to work in the Metro interface even though the icon is displayed in the bottom LH corner. You can still get access to the 'Metro Start' icon.

The product would appear to still be under development but then so is Windows 8!

I am using Rainmeter since 4-5 years ago, at the beginning I thought it was a waste of ny precious memory resources to run this small tool.
I upgraded to Windows 7 from my XP about 2 years ago, and since the I used the included Sidebar gadget for a while, but I realize that Windows gadgets are lame to load and 'eat' lots of memory and processor load for every single gadget we use
So I decide to use Rainmeter to check how it behaves, and voila... surprisingly, rainmeter is so light and has a small footprint
Here is my screenshot, a skin I made myself with features:
- big clock with an extended graphic
- the second hand, is 'running light indicator'
- at the bottom: digital clock, Upload and and Download status, core temperature (coretemp app must be loaded)
- and some interface (round dots) for RSS, Links etc
- Shutdown, hibernate and restart...
And all this consume just: 0.0% CPU load, 5,9 MB RAM/Memory...
Compare to Windows Sidebar with same features: 1.6% CPU load, constantly and peak at 8% and 8-12MB memory for each gadget running, and in fact, if I want all the features I am running on Rainmeter, there are at least 5 gadgets must be loaded, and it means around 40-56MB is wasted

Note: I want to show my screen, but unfortunately it's not allowed here to paste a screen cap directly

Regards,
Andy