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Free Tip For Blazing FAST Shutdown........

(23 posts) (10 voices)

Started 17 years ago by FreewareFan
Latest reply from AmigaFan

FreewareFan
Member

I rather like this tip to get your computer to do a shutdown. It's FAST, easy, and painless. Did I mention FAST? Well, as fast as you can tap 2 keys on the keyboard, anyway, which for me takes about 1 sec.

Here's the deal, and it's easy to remember too. When you're ready to do a shutdown, just tap the Windows Key once ( should be right next to your Alt key), then tap the U key twice. That's it! Tap them as fast as you can, and see for yourself. You'll be on your way to a system shutdown just like that.

Easy, yes?

Posted 17 years ago #
Anonymous
Unregistered

Doesn't work brings up narrator.

Fast Shut down can be done by, start > run, paste in '%windir%\System32\shutdown.exe -s -t 0' without quotes, then clicking ok.

Posted 17 years ago #
FreewareFan
Member

Using WindowsXP Pro, Build 2600 it works a dream, Lee. What OS do you run?

Posted 17 years ago #
jr46
Member

I use XP Home Edition, and get Narrator also with <Winkey-u> pressed together. However, <Winkey> alone brings up the Start Menu, and then "u" brings up the Shutdown Menu, ("u" is the shortcut key for the "T_u_rn Off Computer" selection). So I guess if you press <Winkey>, "u", "u" quickly you will activate a shutdown. I didn't want to shutdown my computer right now, so I didn't actually try the last "u". I wonder...will any key do for that last keypress (instead of "u")? Might try later.

Posted 17 years ago #
FreewareFan
Member

I suppose I could have been more explicit. Yes, you are correct, jr46, in that one needs to tap the Winkey by itself, one time. Then tap the U key twice, as a second operation. Hope that clears the air somewhat.

Also, I believe that the second keypress of U is the only one that will work to finally shutdown the computer. But, as I said in my original post, I just do a real, real fast click of the Winkey, then 2 clicks of the U key, 1-2-3 and the laptop's off to sleep land. :-)

Posted 17 years ago #
jr46
Member

Sorry, FreewareFan, if I sounded critical. Your tip is a good one! I was just trying to explain why it works. And I even screwed that up because my Shutdown Menu isn't the usual one that came with XP. Undoubtedly, the second "u" is highlighted on that menu, too (although I can't see it on my computer).

And please, keep on giving us good tips and links. They are much appreciated.

Posted 17 years ago #
BuBBy
Teh adnim

One step faster... trip over a box on the floor (in the dark) and stumble straight through the power cord attached to the main power board (ie. instant shut down).

Requires no key presses or mouse clicks - but can be inconvenient if you have to do it several times a day (not to mention dangerous).

Posted 17 years ago #
maz
Member

Gentlemen, I think you should keep the details of what you do with your Winkey as a private matter.

Posted 17 years ago #
FreewareFan
Member

One step faster... trip over a box on the floor (in the dark) and stumble straight through the power cord attached to the main power board (ie. instant shut down).

Requires no key presses or mouse clicks - but can be inconvenient if you have to do it several times a day (not to mention dangerous).

LOL... But, that doesn't work if you run a laptop, BuBBy!! It just sends the laptop sailing through the air. :-)

Posted 17 years ago #
FreewareFan
Member

@ jr46 Hey, no you did not sound critical. I did not take it that way at all! No problem at all on my side of the LCD screen!! All is good!

Posted 17 years ago #
jinkazama
Member

unfortunately it doesn't work for vista...

Posted 17 years ago #
FreewareFan
Member

@ jinkazama. Disappointed to hear that! I need to get into the habit of making mention that things might not work with Vista, as I have been running into that a lot lately..

Posted 17 years ago #
BuBBy
Teh adnim

I think most people should be used to that disclaimer by now.

It would probably be easier to just mention it when programs and tips work with Vista, rather than everything that doesn't.

"If it works with Vista, consider it a bonus". :)

YMMVV - Your Milage May Vary with Vista.

Posted 17 years ago #
Theleecher
Member

If your ATX power button is set to "shutdown", then one tap on the power button is all it takes.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=1b286e6d-8912-4e18-b570-42470e2f3582&displaylang=en
In some conditions, UPHClean also helps to provide a smoother shutdown - it seems to be fairly effective at keeping down the ".net Broadcasteventwindow" that can be an annoyance, some ATI Catalyst driver versions seemed to throw this rather often at shutdown, though maybe the move to .Net 2.0 fixed it.

Posted 17 years ago #
AmigaFan
Member

Additionally, you can press Winkey once, U key ONCE and then press:

S - to Stand By
R - to Restart
H - to Hibernate (many people don't know about this one)

Hibernation is a great alternative to Stand By mode since it does not require ANY power source, thus you can hibernate your Laptop/Computer instead, without draining your battery power (or depend on availability of power source) like Stand By mode does.

I use Stand By when - I want to quickly resume later, after a few dozen of minutes.
I use Hibernate when - I need to interrupt my work for unknown amount of time (even days)
On laptops to conserve battery when I close the "lid".

In order for Hibernation to work, you need to enable it under "Display Properties" -> "Screen Saver" tab, click "Power..." button > under "Hibernate" tab: click "Enable hibernation" checkbox. (example for Windows XP)

Note that for enabled Hibernation, Windows will preallocate on your hard disk the same amount of space as you have your RAM memory. This is because in Hibernation mode, OS saves all memory data to Hard disk (and then shutdowns computer) instead of keeping data in memory like Stand By mode does.

After you enable Hibernation, you can Hibernate your computer in three ways:

1) Click "Start", click "Turn Off Computer", then press and hold shift, you will see that Stand By button have changed into "Hibernate", then click it.

2) As mentioned before, press Winkey once, hit U, and then hit H key.

3) You can assign the appropriate action (Shutdown, Stand by, Hibernate, Do nothing) to your ACPI on-chasis button if available. ("Display Properties" -> "Screen Saver" tab, "Power..." button, "Advanced" tab)

If you have Windows XP and use default (graphical) Shutdown menu (the one with grayscale fadeout effect) and this Winkey - double-tap "U" stuff does not work for you, the problem may very likely be: you have an item in your Start menu whose name starts with letter "U" so it interferes with "U" shortcut for Turn Off menu.
Simply rightclick on that item and remove it with "Unpin from Start menu" command.

And finally, I apologize to all of you who know all this stuff and think this was unnecessary, I just wanted to contribute somehow to this great GAOTD community.

Posted 16 years ago #
FreewareFan
Member

Hello, AmigaFan! Good information. I'd like to interject some personal experience into your posted comments. On the issue of using Hibernation, one needs to be very careful! You see, the added benifit of using it, is that when you restart Windows, it starts very, very, very fast!! I became addicted to using it that way, and then it messed up my HD. The reason it happened is that when your computer goes into hibernation, it bypasses the usual routine for normal housecleaning and shutting down.
Like you said, what happens is that Windows takes a snapshot of what's in memory, and puts it to HD. That information is what's loaded when Windows is again started, and why it starts in like 7 seconds, verses the normal 25 seconds or so.

Thing is, what happened to me was that during one session, Windows XP Pro just crashed, blue screened. The one and only time it has happened to me in years. When I tried to restart Windows, it would not boot, reporting that it couldn't find the boot record. So, my MBR was destroyed, and no amount of fiddling would fix it. My only recourse was to do a reformat and re-installation of Windows.

The point of my comments? To say that hibernation is alright once in a while, but don't depend on it as a fast shutdown, and an even faster startup strategy. There will come a day when you'll regret it!

Posted 16 years ago #
AmigaFan
Member

Thank you FreewareFan for your comments, I will keep your experience in mind.
I too had a number of system crashes, not caused by a hibernation though.
It is very disturbing when fatal system crashes occur. You need then to reinstall your operating system which is very inconvenient because you need to setup your settings, modifications and programs back the way you like them and with which your computer works best. If you want to try to avoid re-installation of OS, there are a number of things that can be done in case of a fatal (unrecoverable) system crash instead of ultimate solution (clean install) :(((
Considering Windows XP, you can try the following procedure in case you cannot boot your Windows installation:

1. Insert your Windows XP CD
2. Make your system boot from CD
3. After the loading completes, press "R" to enter Recovery Console.
4. Login to your Windows installation (typically press "1" and type Admin password)
5. After you login, you can type (without quotes) the following commands:
- "fixboot" (will write new standard bootblock to boot area of HDD)
- "fixmbr" (will fix the Master Boot Record. Not that dangerous as one might think.)
- "chkdsk /p" (will repair your HD from filesystem errors, this version on CD is a little different.)
- "exit" (will reset your computer, before that remember to remove CD and set/allow computer to boot from Hard drive...if you are lucky Windows will happily boot again, no need for OS re-installation this time)

Also, there are several other things Recovery Console can do, such as instantly fix that "NTLDR is missing" problem etc.

Also, as a preventive measure to any system crashes and/or system instability, it is recommended to use a good Registry & Disk Cleaner tool, disk Defragmenter utility (but not that included with Windows) and do the "chkdsk" (directly from Windows session, no need for CD) once in a while.

CHKDSK is like a Disk Doctor, it will check for and fix any "hidden" filesystem errors that might evolve into system crash(es) one day.
You can use both graphical and Command-line way.
I recommend command-line so that you can see what exactly is wrong with your Hard disk filesystem.
It is very simple:

1. Click Start, then click "Run..."
2. Type "cmd" (all without quotes)
3. Command line will open, type in "chkdsk" and press enter.
4. After scan completes, see in report whether any errors are found.
5. If no errors are found, just type "exit" and press enter. That's it, lucky you.

6. If it says that errors are found, type "chkdsk" again and press enter. This is because of possible false alarm which occur sometimes.
7. If after second scanning, this time no error is found, type "exit" and press enter. That's it.
8. But if error is found then type "chkdsk /f"
9. Confirm with "Y" and type "exit" or click "X" on window, Command line window will close.
10. Next time before you boot Windows, chkdsk will automatically repair your system Hard disk.
You can also use other parameters and scan other drives for filesystem errors.
If you are interested, type "chkdsk /?" for complete list of parameters.

Please note: chkdsk is a very powerful tool, use it only to do checking not-so-often or if needed!

Hope this was valuable information. I see a lot of people around various forums asking about the same issues, but often you can luckily avoid the re-installation or, even better, prevent need for it entirely.
Still, doing backups of your most valuable files is invaluable practice.

Sorry for such a long post that might not be of entertaining nature to some of the readers.

Posted 16 years ago #
FreewareFan
Member

Dont't be sorry, I'm sure that many people reading your post will have said to themselves, "Hey, I better keep this information in case I need it in the future!"

BTW, really like your username. My first ever computer was a Commodore64C, which somehow morphed into an Amiga 500. I've never been able to stop booting since.... :-)

Posted 16 years ago #
AmigaFan
Member

Mine too, that's the reason why I know so much about computers :)
I got it back there in elementary school from my neighbor (he took it out of his attic where it was "archived") and he also gave me a lot of C64 software, equipment (1541 Disk drive, Datasette etc.) and most importantly a good C64 book that explained everything about hardware and theory of computer operation.
If I got a PC as my first computer, then I surely wouldn't know so much about computers today.
Later on, I got myself old Amiga 1200 with HDD. It was excellent experience watching those demos, reading diskmags, listening to modules etc. And yes, playing games :)
I didn't do any coding on Amiga though (apart from AmigaDOS script)
But I do remember how desperately I wanted to listen to MP3's, but Amiga1200's 14MHz CPU was incapable of doing that :D
So, I figured out that Amiga can excellently play AIFF and WAV files. (about 14% CPU usage) So guess what I did...I used "mpega" utility to convert those MP3 files into WAV. It took about 10-20 minutes for each MP3 file. But my patience was rewarded with perfectly reproduced music!
I did the scripts that automatically after one file is done, next is started so that I could get out and when I returned I was "welcomed" with HDD full of ready-to-play WAV's.

Those were the times...

Posted 16 years ago #
FreewareFan
Member

Yep, if you mention using a CLI to a lot of people nowadays, they just look at you and go "What??" ...

Posted 16 years ago #
Jucati
Member

Maybe not relevant to the most recent posts, but I'd just like to posit that anyone running windows should become familiar with how to navigate their systems minus the use of a mouse. It could save your life some day. ;)

It seems like about half the time I drop my keyboard (wireless) in my attempts to catch it I manage to send the damn thing into hibernate mode. The first time it happened? Didn't realize ctrl+alt+del was what I needed to bring it back up. ... you can imagine the rest.

Posted 16 years ago #
Lockett
Member

I've always used Hibernate for my laptop, as it's annoying to wait a minute and a half for it to do a cold boot. However, you can also shut down within seconds by holding down the power button(and that works with practically every computer that has one).

Posted 16 years ago #
AmigaFan
Member

Although it is sometimes nerve-relieving to force turn off your computer, mostly by holding power-button for 4 seconds (especially when you are losing in a badly designed game :), it is not recommended to do that all the time because you may cause damage to your filesystem if you cut-off the power while your computer is writing something to disk. We all know that Windows is grinding with hard disk non-stop because of virtual memory, paging file, swap file, registry access....that is one of the reasons why they had to put that sometimes lengthy shutdown procedure. (FreewareFan, you surely remember that "Task held. Please wait for disk activity to finish." fatal error message on Amiga :)

Posted 16 years ago #

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