This is a time sensitive post. There are a 3 main methods to begin the shut down of windows 10 quickly.
By performing these actions (generally within 1s), windows 10 will start to prepare itself to power off.
** The total shutdown process will still be dependent on the hardware specs and the amount to programs to close. This guide will only assist you to begin the shutdown process.
Method 1 – Shutdown in 4 Key Presses. (My Fave)
No prior work needed to be done.
This requires some practice. If you are used to this method, it can even initialise the computer shutdown in less than 1s.
- Press the “Windows” + “X” together on the keyboard. (2 Key presses)
- A menu will appear (generally at the bottom left where the start button is)
-
win + X on start button, windows 10 - Once the Menu appear, press “U”. An extended menu should appear. (refer to image below) (3rd Key press)
- Press the “U” again for the last time to commence the shutdown procedure. (4th Key press)
** Others: Did u notice that certain letters is underlined in the extended menu? such as an underlined “R” or “i” or “S”? If press “R” at step 6, it will instead proceed to restart the windows 10 computer.
Method 2 – Double Click on a shutdown command.
Some work to be done prior to this. You will need to refer to a previous post. “Creating a shortcut to a folder of File for Swift Access” (open in new tab).
Follow the guide where you reach the menu where you need to “type the location of the item“. Instead of typing in the location or browse for the folders, type in as follows “shutdown /s /t 1” (in red only). And select “Next”
Under “Type a name for this shortcut“, you can type in “Begin Shutdown” or any name you preferred to call it. and Click Finish to create the shortcut.
An icon will appear on the desktop. The name of the icon depends on the name given earlier on.
Double Click on the icon, and the message be as below.
Others: What the command does is as follows
- “shutdown” is the command to begin shutdown
- “/s” is the switch to begin the shutdown of the local (existing) PC
- “/t 1” option to set begin shutdown in 1s, you may replace the “1” with other digits. If you selected “120“, it will only begin to power off in 2 mins.
Method 3 – Configure the Power button.
This allows you to shut the computer system down simply by pressing the physical “power” button to initiate the shutdown. Isn’t it ironic?
Some work to be done prior to this.
Here are the steps.
- Left click on the windows start button and type in “Power Plan”
- Select “Edit Power Plan” and another window should pop out
- Select “Change advanced power settings” and another window will appear.
- Click on the + sign besides “Power buttons and lid” and expand the menu, until you reach “Settings”. Select “Settings” > Shutdown. Once done, click on “Apply” and “OK”. Close the rest of the previously opened windows.
- In the future logins, press the physical “Power button” to initialise the shutting down of the computer.
With these 3 tricks, you should be able to commence the shut down windows 10 quickly and impress your friends, if they are impressed.
Though the above images are using windows 10 as an example, these methods work for windows 8.1 and windows 8 as well.
If you are still using windows 7, method 2 and 3 works for you as well. I have written a similar guide called Initiate Windows 7 Shutdown in 1 second or Less in 2013. (open in new tab). The technique stated in the link is similar to method 1.