| TURN COMPUTER OFF CORRECTLY |
When you want to turn off the computer NEVER EVER turn it off by using its power button, normally
located on the front of the computer. And NEVER EVER turn off the computer by the electricity
mains. Only turn off the computer with its power button or electricity mains when there is no
other way to turn it off (i.e. because the computer froze/crashed). If you do turn off the
computer by using its power button or electricity mains you risk damaging the computer.
To turn off the computer you first need to click on the START button, which will reveal the Start Menu (Fig 1.1 below).
When the start menu is revealed (Fig 1.1 above) move the mouse pointer rightwards until it has gone over the Sleep 
and
Padlock 
buttons, so that it is now over the Shutdown Options (dark blue right-arrow) Menu Title. The menu title is blank.
Keep the mouse pointer there for a second or so until the Shutdown Options Menu appears and then click on the SHUT DOWN
menu-item. This will automatically close all your running programs before shutting down the computer completely.
As Windows Vista shuts down the computer you will see two messages. Logging Off and then Shutting Down. Logging Off means it is
disconnecting from the current user account. Logging Off/On in general means to disconnect from something or connect to
something, like a User Account, an Internet Account and so on. For more information read the Log Off/On section. Once
Windows Vista has logged you off (signed you out) it then saves your Settings, which are computer settings and your personal
(desktop) settings. After that Windows Vista actually turns off (shuts down) the computer.
If you turn off the computer by the electricity mains or power button (at anytime) you will in most cases lose your settings,
which means Windows Vista might not be able to start up next time. Why? Because the settings Windows Vista saves are to do with important
computer matters, such as your profile (account information, password, desktop theme, hardware configuration and so on).
Most things you do with your computer involves Windows Vista saving settings for that action. So if you change the desktop theme
from blue to green Windows Vista saves your changes in the desktop settings part of its system file. If Windows Vista is saving some
settings and you then turn off the computer by the electricity mains or power button, because you have finished using it
and are unaware that Windows Vista is saving your settings, those settings will probably be corrupt. Upon starting Windows Vista again
everything could appear fine, but the damage might show itself later. For example. If the computer was turned off whilst
you were on the internet you might not have access to the internet next time. Or if the computer was turned off whilst the
desktop settings were being saved you might not have a desktop to look at next time - Windows Vista might start off normal
(asking you for your password) but when it reaches the desktop stage it will not know what to display as it knows nothing
anymore about your desktop settings. Fortunately with Windows Vista it saves your previous settings from the day before for
example. So if you do have problems Windows Vista might be able to turn the clock back and restore your computer settings. And
power buttons on many computers these days also have a safety mechanism whereby they actually turn off the computer
correctly, allowing settings to be saved, instead of just powering off the computer. This is exactly what the Shut Down
menu-item does. It informs running software that you want to turn off the computer, so that each piece of running
software then has a chance to save its settings before closing itself.
There is no excuse for ignorance - Always turn off the computer using Window's Start - Shutdown Options Menu - Shut Down
menu-item sequence.
| STANDBY • HIBERNATE • SLEEP • SHUTDOWN |
To shutdown Windows Vista you probably use the brown Sleep (Standby icon) button, which is okay if you know what happens when you click on the Sleep button but not so wise otherwise.
STANDBY Mode
Standby Mode saves everything to Memory (as a big file) so that you can resume your session (work) from Memory, after using Standby, as long as the computer is still being powered by battery (laptop) or electricity. Basically, the big file is reloaded.
HIBERNATION Mode
Hibernation Mode works in the same way as Standby Mode except that it saves your session (work) directly to the Hard Drive
(as a big file) before shutting down Windows Vista completely. This means you can resume your session, even after a power
loss, when you switch the computer on again. Basically, the big file is reloaded.
Standby is faster than Hibernation because it utilizes the data transfer speed of Memory.
SLEEP Mode
Sleep Mode acts as both Hibernation Mode and Standby Mode. You activate sleep mode by clicking on the brown Sleep button,
on the Start Menu.
Sleep Mode saves your entire session (work), including all open documents, to both Memory and Hard Drive so that when you
start the computer next time it appears as you left it last time (before clicking on the Sleep button).
SHUTDOWN Mode
If you want your Hard Drive to live longer choose to shutdown completely only, by using the Shutdown button - Initially located on the Sleep button's sub-menu. No big file will be used. Better still, disable Hibernation altogether (for Advanced Users only) or just convert the brown Sleep button into a red Shutdown button (so that you are in the habit of Shutting Down as opposed to Sleeping!!).
| CHANGE THE SLEEP BUTTON |
This next example is for Advanced Users only. It involves changing certain POWER Control Panel settings in order to make the
Sleep button act as a Shutdown button.
By default (normal behaviour) clicking on the Sleep button makes your computer sleep, which basically means it keeps your
computer's current state (activities) in memory before putting the computer's power on Low (sleeping) Energy. When you wake
the computer up again, by pressing its physical Sleep button for example, it resumes what it was doing. This is good if you
need to put the computer to sleep a lot, perhaps because you use your computer in mini sessions, but it is not good if you
only use your computer once a day for example and need to completely shut it down afterwards. The solution for you could be
to change the Sleep button into a Shutdown button.
When you get to the Power Options window your current power option will have its radio (circle) button selected. In this example, the Balanced power option. Directly underneath the radio button is the text link CHANGE PLAN SETTINGS, which you need to click on in order to get to the EDIT PLAN SETTINGS window below.
Clicking on the CHANGE ADVANCED POWER SETTINGS text link, above, opens the POWER OPTIONS Advanced Settings window below. Scroll down the window until you reach the heading POWER BUTTONS AND LID. Then click on its + sign to expand it, revealing its sub-headings LID CLOSE ACTION, POWER BUTTON ACTION, SLEEP BUTON ACTION and START MENU POWER BUTTON.
At this point you would be forgiven for going for either POWER BUTTON ACTION or SLEEP BUTTON ACTION as the setting that will
change the Sleep button I have been talking about. However. The one to go for is in fact the START MENU POWER BUTTON. That
is what Windows Vista knows the Sleep button as. So click on the + sign of sub-heading START MENU POWER BUTTON, to reveal
its settings On Battery and Plugged In, and then change each setting accordingly.
Each setting can be changed by either clicking on its name (i.e On Battery) or on its setting (i.e Sleep). A drop-down menu will
appear for the setting. When you have changed the settings simply APPLY them before clicking on the OK button to exit. After
that, close the Control Panel window down.
After changing the Start Menu's power button, from a brown Sleep button into a red Shutdown button, clicking on it will shutdown the computer completely instead of putting it to sleep. If you want to put the computer to sleep only, from now on you will have to use the Shutdown Options SLEEP menu-item.
Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation. As stated here by the Microsoft Corporation.
All HTM files in the yoingco.com folder and its sub-folders are (c) John White, August 3rd 2005 - 2008. All Rights Reserved. FREE Vista Helpline: Contact John