Your computer starts best when it is shut down properly in the previous session. It is important to shut down your computer properly once you are done using it. This would not only help you start a fresh session with better performance the next time you switch it on but you would also save energy that you might have wasted by turning your computer on even when it was not used.

Proper shutdown is important and tends to make your computer a secure experience by protecting your data and saving it properly. To shut down your computer, you can usually use two of the methods:

  • Power button on your computer’s casing
  • Using the shut down button in the Start menu

Shut down button on the Start menu:

Once you click on the Start menu on your computer, you have Shut Down on the right lower corner. This would further extend to a menu once you are going to click on the arrow with the Shut Down. When you click on the Shut Down button, your computer starts to stop and close all the programs that are running on your system, both visible to you and the ones in the background as well. The Window closes itself as well closing all the system wide applications running and your computer turns off completely. Computer that has been shut down completely sinks to a state where the display goes on standby.

The process does not save all your works but many of the applications that you would be using would prompt you to save your work once a request for shut down has been generated. You are advised to save your work in any way just to make sure that you lose no work once you shut your system down

Change Shut down button settings:

The shut down button in the Start menu has been configured to shut down your computer properly for most of the time but you can still change the settings associated with the Shut Down button in the start menu. You can change the doing by following the instructions below:

  • Click Start menu, go to Control Panel.
  • Click on Appearance and Personalization icon, click Taskbar and Start Menu icon available on the next level.
  • Click on the Start Menu tab
  • Head to the Power button action. Choose the item of your choice from the list and press OK to finalize your choice.

Automatic updates:

Automatic updates do not allow you to shut down your computer on the instant when you press the Shut down button. The automatic update would certainly not let your computer close properly until or unless they are completely installed. You are still required to press the shut down button the same way as before. The Windows would install all the downloaded updates on your computer and then shut down properly.

One thing that is worth mentioning is that your computer would certainly not start at the same pace as it does after your computer has been put to sleep. The startup time is usually longer but ensures that every resource is being used with just the required processes and no background process is occupying the resources.