I feel Shutdown/Restart on right click menu on desktop is elegant as I read in some PC magazine.

The following registry entries do the trick. The entries contain Lock Computer, Shutdown, Restart, Hibernate and Sleep. You can selectively add the functions. This also works in Windows 7.

After adding the entries to registry, right click on the desktop back and select the shutdown or other options.


[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Lock Computer]
"icon"="shell32.dll,-325"
"Position"="Bottom"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Lock Computer\command]
@="Rundll32 User32.dll,LockWorkStation"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Restart Computer]
"icon"="shell32.dll,-221"
"Position"="Bottom"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Restart Computer\command]
@="shutdown.exe -r -t 15"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Shut Down Computer]
"icon"="shell32.dll,-329"
"Position"="Bottom"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Shut Down Computer\command]
@="shutdown.exe -s -t 15"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Sleep Mode]
"icon"="shell32.dll,-331"
"Position"="Bottom"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Sleep Mode\command]
@="rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Hibernate Computer]
"icon"="shell32.dll,-16771"
"Position"="Bottom"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Hibernate Computer\command]
@="rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState 0,1,0"