Proper Way to Shut Down

[Frank]

I am somewhat new to Windows Vista. What is the proper way to "Shut down" my
laptop?? When I click the Winows Ball on the bottom left of my screen (used
to be "start"), I see a button that looks like a power button, but a little
further to the right, I see an arrow that has the normal shot down and
restart commands that I'm used to. Which is the right one? I heard that the
one that looks like a power button has had system issues.

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi Frank,

The first one is sleep mode, the others are the shutdown/restart options.
Some have issues with sleep because either they are experiencing software
conflicts or have drivers installed that don't support this mode. The latter
occurs most often on older systems that were upgraded from XP and may not
have full driver sets available.

As to which one is right to use, I prefer sleep as when you power on you
start where you left off (much like XP's hibernate but much faster to
reload). Use what works for you.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[wallaby]

My understanding is that the one that looks like a power button, sleeps your
system, it does not do a shut down

You might want to find the setting that displays "hint text" (sic), it's
useful to keep it on whilst you're becoming familiar with Vista or any new
software - but I forget where it is that you can set it on of off, someone
might care to remind us.

For the record, I always make sure all users are Logged Off, then I shut
down from the 'Select User Account" screen, using the Red Power button on
the bottom right of that screen - I do the same on XP.

 

[oscar]

To Shutdown go to Start menu, go all the way to the bottom right, go pass the
off button tab, pass the lock tab, to the little white arrow. On the pop up
menu choose Shutdown for proper shutdown.

It's OK to put your computer in Sleep or Hibernate mode even though some
programs/applications or drivers may occassionally have quirky issues with
those two states. It is good practice to Shutdown the computer at least a
couple times a week in order to allow system files to refresh themselves
during a new start up.

 

[Richard in AZ]

You can change the function of the that first shutdown button using the Power Options tool in the Control Panel.
Open the Control Panel and select the Power Options.
On the left side select "Choose what the power buttons do"
Then right click on the "down" arrow in the box and make your selection.
I like to have mine set to do a full shut-down.
I shut my computer completely off when I am done for the day. Personal choice.