We all know the feeling. We’re sitting at our computer, ready to go home for the day, and we decide it’s time to shut down. We push the power button and wait . . . and wait . . . and wait. Finally, the computer shuts down! Or does it?
More often than not, when you try to shut down your PC, it doesn’t quite go as planned. In this blog post, we will teach you how to properly shut down your PC so that you can avoid any frustrating shutdown issues.
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Don’t Shut Down, Sleep
Almost everyone shuts down their PC/laptop at the end of the day after completing their work. It’s a simple process: You click on the power button (in the bottom-right corner of the Start Menu in Windows 11 and bottom-left of the Start Menu in Windows 10) and select “Shut Down.” But did you know this isn’t actually the best way to turn off your computer?
When you shut down your PC, it closes all active programs and windows, signs you out of your account, and then turns off the PC. That means when you start your PC back up again, it has to boot up from scratch, which can take a while.
Instead of shutting down your PC, you should put it into sleep mode. Sleep mode is a low-power state where your PC/laptop saves the state of your open documents and programs and then goes into a low-power state. When you’re ready to start working again, you can just wake up your PC and pick up right where you left off.
Simply click on the power button to put your PC into sleep mode and select “Sleep.” Your PC will go into sleep mode almost immediately.
Benefits of Sleep Mode Instead of Shut Down
There are a few benefits to using sleep mode over shutting down your PC.
For one, it’s much faster to wake up your PC from sleep mode than it is to boot up your PC from scratch. That means you can get back to work more quickly and avoid any frustration.
Sleep mode also uses less power than leaving your PC on all the time, which can save you money on your energy bill. And if you have a laptop, putting it into sleep mode will help preserve your battery life.
So next time you’re ready to call it a day, don’t shut down your PC. Put it into sleep mode instead. Your PC will thank you for it!
Is Hibernate Good Option?
Hibernate is another power-saving mode that you can use instead of shutting down. When you hibernate your PC, it saves the state of your open programs and files to your hard drive and then turns off your PC.
When you’re ready to start working again, you can just turn on your PC, and it will resume exactly where you left off. Hibernate is a good option if you’re going to be away from your PC for an extended period of time and you don’t want to have to worry about losing any unsaved work.
To hibernate your PC, click on the power button and select “Hibernate.” Your PC will go into hibernation mode and will turn off.
How to Shut Down Your PC the Right Way?
If you must shut down your PC, there is a proper way to do it.
- First, make sure that all of your programs and windows are closed. Then, click on the power button and select “Shut Down.” Your PC will then go through the shutdown process and turn off completely.
- You can also shut down your PC by pressing the Ctrl+Alt+Delete keys on your keyboard and then selecting “Shut Down” from the menu that appears.
- Do not directly use the power button to shut down your PC until it is frozen and you don’t have any other option. Also, if you are using a PC, don’t turn off your PC by directly switching off the power button or unplugging the chord.
- You should only shut down your PC if you’re not going to use it for an extended period. For example, if you’re going on vacation or if you’re going to be away from your PC for a few days.
- If you shut down your PC daily, you’ll eventually face problems. That’s because every time you boot up your PC, it has to load a lot of files and programs. Over time, this can slow down your PC and cause it to run less efficiently.
Do a Full Shutdown Once in a While
As you now know, there are a few different ways to turn off your PC. Sleep mode is the best option if you’re going to be away from your PC for a short time. Hibernate mode is a good option if you’re going to be away from your PC for an extended period.
Even though sleep mode is the better way to turn off your PC on a daily basis, you should still do a full shutdown once in a while. A total shutdown will close all programs and files and then turn off your PC. This can help improve the performance of your PC and fix any potential problems. It would be best if you did a full shutdown at least once a week to help keep your PC running smoothly.
And remember that if you must shut down your PC, make sure you do it the right way, as directed in this post.
Peter is an Electrical Engineer whose primary interest is tinkering with his computer. He is passionate about Windows 10 Platform and enjoys writing tips and tutorials about it.
I actually use “restart” because it is my office computer and boots up to the login screen for security … I need the system to clean out cache and memory items from last session, so the temp folders are as clean as needed for the new day.
I’m a computer engineer and I often tell my clients not to shut down their PC if something goes wrong, but rather to restart it. Unfortunately, few service technicians tell their customers to do this.
No one pc manufacturer or chip maker has a power saving feature that even works. Its all a waste of time. 90% of the time, someone who’s pc has gone into power saving mode whether by inactivity or choosing it will inevitably have to press and hold the power down long enough for it to completely turn off before it you have a workable machine again. Turning your pc off every night ensures a clean start in the morning. Most newer pc’s are now using ssd’s instead of the old hard drive so startup times are not much longer then waiting for it to come back up (if it even does). Blowing the sleep or any “power saving” horn is waaay to premature. They need to make it work 100% of the time first not the 25% that I’ve experienced is the norm.
I don’t know why the content of this article does not address the problem of Windows shutdown which does not lead to a shutdown but to a standby. If nothing is changed in the default configuration, only a restart requires a real shutdown of the OS.
I’ve been in the computer industry before you were wet behind the ears. Hard drives were the size of a washing machine and danced across the floor in the lab, while modems we the size of a room which now fits on an SD card.
to have a headline that tells me I’m doing something wrong is no less a tactic used in the checkout line in the supermarket impulse aisle of rag magazines, and now used in ads on social media. a come of a headline, and then no real substance to the article.
your grade: poor journalism!
You’re not making any sense.
“If you shut down your PC daily, you’ll eventually face problems. That’s because every time you boot up your PC, it has to load a lot of files and programs. Over time, this can slow down your PC and cause it to run less efficiently.”
“Even though sleep mode is the better way to turn off your PC on a daily basis, you should still do a full shutdown once in a while. A total shutdown will close all programs and files and then turn off your PC.”
Does shutdown/cold start actually load additional copies of the same programs or does it clean things out? You can’t have it both ways.
I have different docking stations at home and at work, plus I sometimes need to run my laptop in a standalone mode. I can tell you from personal experience that doing this by “hot swapping” really confuses the computer.
Please explain the statement that ‘you will eventually have problems’ . . . . . . Does that starting up the programs each time perhaps cause wear on the hard drive or on the RAM??
– Start-up only takes a minute, as does shutting down . . . . so I don’t understand the inference of saving time. (The exception being when the PC want’s to install updates, which is why I exercise some control over when these Updates happen.)
– My PC has a 2.0TB SSD and plenty of RAM i.e. 64GB, but on some days I find it beneficial to do a Restart to refresh it, i.e. when working on large graphics files. That action certainly sorts out some glitchy behaviours.