Another Day With My PC

How do I turn off my computer? Let me count the ways…

While there may be a dozen means by which you could shut your PC down, there’s only one method by which Microsoft recommends on how you should do it – by clicking on the “Turn Off” button in the Start menu.

You may wonder why your operating system’s manufacturer insists that you put your PC to rest by clicking on the said button. You may surmise that Microsoft programmers are emphasizing on such method simply because they don’t want you to waste their effort in creating the red button. Surely there are other ways by which you could accomplish it. However, the textbook technique is the preferred one since it ensures that all programs would also shut down in the manner intended by their own manufacturers.

What Lies Beneath

There are many processes that transpire or run but lay hidden whenever we put our computer to life. The fact that you don’t see these programs running behind your operating system means that you also have practically no direct or immediate control over them. Hence, turning them off might be too complicated a task for you, if that’s even possible.

One of the reasons why control or management of these processes are directly delegated to the supervision of the operating system is that they are either too many or seem too insignificant for human attention. Imagine if you’re required to turn all of them manually. That would be a nightmare. Operating systems spare you from such dilemma or any needless intervention by executing those processes or applications automatically.

Already Taken Cared Of

Unsurprisingly, it is also the OS that shuts them down. However, as with the process of breathing life to your PC, a degree of human intervention is also needed in order to turn them off. By clicking the “Turn Off” button, you’re prompting your computer to end what it is doing and giving it ample time to execute the necessary steps in order to close all the programs running on your computer. This is the reason why it takes several seconds or even a few minutes before your PC shuts off.

The prescribed procedure is obviously long, especially if there are many programs that need to be closed. Resorting to faster techniques, such as pressing the power button for a few seconds, may spare you a few seconds, but it might not spare you from multiplying those saved seconds to the hours that you’ll need in order to restore important data or system files that got damaged or corrupted due to improper termination.

Follow the Rules

There are reasons as to why you should follow proper procedures, and most of these reasons have your welfare in mind. If you have a habit of just pulling the power plug in order to turn off your computer, then you’d better cut it. You might refute the dangers or consequences that I’m presenting here by attesting that not a single file in your hard drive got damaged by your improper shutdown practices. But I’m telling you, it’s only a matter of time when you’ll surely wish that you’ve clicked on that red button to turn your system off.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 14th, 2008 at 11:50 pm and is filed under Operating Systems, PC Problems . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.