Unlike most electrical appliances, a
computer shouldn’t be turned off by pressing the same button that you pressed
to turn it ‘on’. If you do that, you can actually lose data or damage some of
the processes in the machine. Think of turning off the computer properly as
letting it fall asleep – just pushing the ‘on’ button or unplugging the
computer would be like knocking it out with a punch!
Follow these step-by-step instructions to
help you turn off your computer
These instructions are for Windows 7, but
earlier versions are very similar.
For Windows 8, see our guide 'How to
shut down Windows 8'.
Step 1: Click the ‘Windows’ button at the bottom left-hand corner of your screen.
Step 2: Click Shut down
Step 3: If you’ve left any
programs running or documents open, you’ll get a message similar to this:
You have two options now:
·
Click Cancel and then
close everything that had been listed in the message, saving when necessary.
Then try closing again.
or
·
Click Force shut down. The
computer will automatically close all your documents, programs and so on
without saving anything. As a result, you may lose some data.
Done!