Tip
 

I have a desktop PC with normal keyboard.
These keyboard shortcuts IMO are by far the best and easiest way I know of to
close my PC down.

I use Sleep all the time throughout the day while active and Hibernate at night when finished.
Awake from Sleep, press space bar or any key. Awake from Hibernate, press power button.

WINKEY + X, THEN U + S = SLEEP
WINKEY + X, THEN U + H = HIBERNATE
WINKEY + X, THEN U + R = RESTART
WINKEY + X, THEN U + U = SHUTDOWN

IN SEQUENCE, NOT TOGETHER

Re: Tip
 

Or you could click on an empty part of the desktop and use ALT+F4 to bring up the shut down menu.

Re: Tip
 

Long ago I was a member of a SETI group . . shutting the computer off was frowned upon in those days :D

now I just click the windows icon (start) and click shutdown (old school, sorry) :p:

Re: Tip
 

I tend to leave the main system on 24/7 as it hosts the media server. (Serviio) Most peripherals go into idle when not being accessed so the power consumption is well under 100W.

There is a school of thought that says that it's the heat cycling of stop/start than can shorten the life of the PC components.

The lappy runs W7 with classic shell so just click start and shutdown from the menu.

Re: Tip
 

There's a quicker way - go into Power Settings and set the power button to shut down whenever pressed. Simplistically satisfying!

Re: Tip
 

I use that one if I'm in a rush . . . or when the mouse software glitches :D :D