Why wait ages for Windows to shut down

[pdq1]

In the past you had to shut down your system in a defined way which seems to take ages and still does.

Now however if you shut down instantly by turning the power off has Windows cured this problem by always having a backup of your last use? I say this because if you do turn off your power prematurely when restarting a box comes up asking if you want to return to the previous session.

[ChuckFickens]

Windows does not prompt you to restore a previous session, it might come up and ask if you want to start windows normally or go into safe mode because it wasn't shut down properly.

I suspect the restore previous session is from your browser when you open that.

And if you carry on just turning the power off to your computer you will knacker it sooner rather than later.

[pdq1]

Don't mention power cuts. However this view is worth looking at:

///Microsoft says if you turn off your PC without first shutting down Windows, your hard drive could become more fragmented, files could become corrupted, and you could lose data. But according to a PCWorld report, it is safe to turn off a Windows computer without doing a shut down.
We ran 30 iterations of an informal test, turning off a pair of systems running Windows XP without first shutting down Windows. Each time we left documents open in Word, Outlook, and Quicken. And we left our Internet connection up and running.

After we turned each PC back on, we ran Symantec's Norton Disk Doctor and the Windows disk checker to see if the hard drive had suffered any ill effects. We reopened the applications that we had left running and reconnected to the Internet.
Disk Doctor found no disk errors, and files were intact--at least up to the last time they were saved, but not always to the point of the last edit made. Outlook recovered without a glitch, and so did Quicken.///

[pdq1]

///ask if you want to start windows normally or go into safe mode///

CF not on my computer. If you shut down with power off and you restart and re-enter IE it comes up with an option saying 'do you want to go back to previous session'. Maybe my computer is more up to date.

[pdq1]

I don't know what you get with other browsers than IE

[boxtops]

You ought to shut down properly, not just switch off the power.

[ABerrant]

pdq1 - If you shut down with power off and you restart and re-enter IE it comes up with an option saying 'do you want to go back to previous session'.

As Chuck said, that is your browser (IE) offering to restore a previous session, not Windows.

[ummmm]

Chuck, what about just shutting the laptop?

[pdq1]

Yes AB I am well aware. But this seems a new procedure in IE.

[boxtops]

It I shut my laptop, it doesn't turn off.

[ChuckFickens]

"Chuck, what about just shutting the laptop?"

Depends what you have it set to do when you shut the screen. the options are...

Do nothing
Sleep
Shut down

They're pretty self explanatory and none of them would harm the computer (although shut down would be annoying!)... I have all my laptops on do nothing.

[ABerrant]

pdq1 - it was a new procedure when IE8 was released in March 2009.

[ChuckFickens]

OH and hibernation is an option too, similar to sleep but for longer term use, or to maintain battery level better.