How to Turn Off a Personal Computer

In today's day and age, it is not necessary to turn off your computer unless if you are making changes to the hardware, booting into a different operating system, or trying to save battery, or if your computer is running slow. Turning off your computer is very simple, yet there are many ways to turn off your device. Here is how to turn off your computer.

Method 1
Method 1 of 2:
Windows

Through Start

  1. Image titled Turn Off a Personal Computer Step 1
    1
    Click on the Start
    Image titled Windowsstart.png
    button.     It is in the bottom left hand corner, unless you moved your taskbar. Even then, your start button is located in the bottom left corner on Windows 8, it is just hidden.
  2. Image titled Turn Off a Personal Computer Step 2
    2
    Click on the power
    Image titled Windowspower.png
    button.     This is where you will find a bunch of power options, including to shut down, restart, and sleep, as well as hibernate (Windows 7) and user options.
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    3
    Click on the appropriate option. Here are the options:
    • Shut down - shuts down the computer, and installs any Windows Updates.
    • Restart - shuts down the computer, installs any Windows Updates, and starts your computer again. Useful if your computer is having trouble with hardware and programs.
    • Sleep - turns off your computer's display and temporarily halts any running programs.
    • Hibernate - turns off your computer and saves your data to a hibernation file. Useful for airplanes where devices need to be powered down for a period of time.
  4. Image titled Turn Off a Personal Computer Step 4
    4
    Confirm that you want to shut down/restart your computer if other users are logged in. This can be done by clicking on Shutdown/Restart anyway or Yes.
  5. Image titled Turn Off a Personal Computer Step 5
    5
    Force a shut down/restart if programs are not responding. Click on Shutdown/Restart anyway or Force shutdown/restart to force a shutdown or restart.
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From the Desktop or Taskbar

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    1
    Press Alt+F4. This will not close your taskbar or desktop, it will bring a popup window.
  2. Image titled Turn Off a Personal Computer Step 7
    2
    Click on the appropriate option. Here are the options:
    • Shut down - shuts down the computer, and installs any Windows Updates.
    • Restart - shuts down the computer, installs any Windows Updates, and starts your computer again. Useful if your computer is having trouble with hardware and programs.
    • Sleep - turns off your computer's display and temporarily halts any running programs.
    • Hibernate - turns off your computer and saves your data to a hibernation file. Useful for airplanes where devices need to be powered down for a period of time.
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    3
    Click on OK.
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    4
    Confirm that you want to shut down/restart your computer if other users are logged in. This can be done by clicking on Shutdown/Restart anyway or Yes.
  5. Image titled Turn Off a Personal Computer Step 10
    5
    Force a shut down/restart if programs are not responding. Click on Shutdown/Restart anyway or Force shutdown/restart to force a shutdown or restart.
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Through the Taskbar Right-click Menu

  1. 1
    Locate the start button on the task bar. This is usually in the bottom left corner. Then, right-click.
  2. 2
    On the right-click menu, choose "Shut down or sign out".
  3. 3
    In the "Shut down or sign out" menu, choose Sleep, Shutdown or Restart.
  4. 4
    Confirm that you want to shut down/restart your computer if other users are logged in. This can be done by clicking on Shutdown/Restart anyway or Yes.
  5. 5
    Force a shut down/restart if programs are not responding. Click on Shutdown/Restart anyway or Force shutdown/restart to force a shutdown or restart.
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From Command Prompt or Powershell

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    1
    Open Command Prompt or Powershell. Type cmd.exe or powershell.exe to start either of the two respectively.
  2. Image titled Turn Off a Personal Computer Step 12
    2
    Type shutdown -action to shutdown your computer. Here are the codes.
    • -s: shuts down your computer.
    • -r: restarts your computer.
    • -h: hibernates your computer.
  3. Image titled Turn Off a Personal Computer Step 13
    3
    Force a shut down/restart if programs are not responding. Click on Shutdown/Restart anyway or Force shutdown/restart to force a shutdown or restart.
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From the Settings Charm

  1. Image titled Turn Off a Personal Computer Step 14
    1
    Open the charms bar. This is available on Windows 8 and Windows 8.1, and can be done by swiping left from the right, or by moving your mouse to either of the right corners. Then choose
    Image titled Windowssettings.png
    Settings.
    • You can also find the settings key on your keyboard to do this.
  2. Image titled Turn Off a Personal Computer Step 15
    2
    Choose
    Image titled Windowspower.png
    Power.     Then choose the appropriate option:
    • Shut down - shuts down the computer, and installs any Windows Updates.
    • Restart - shuts down the computer, installs any Windows Updates, and starts your computer again. Useful if your computer is having trouble with hardware and programs.
    • Sleep - turns off your computer's display and temporarily halts any running programs.
  3. Image titled Turn Off a Personal Computer Step 16
    3
    Confirm that you want to shut down/restart your computer if other users are logged in. This can be done by clicking on Shutdown/Restart anyway or Yes.
  4. Image titled Turn Off a Personal Computer Step 17
    4
    Force a shut down/restart if programs are not responding. Click on Shutdown/Restart anyway or Force shutdown/restart to force a shutdown or restart.
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From the Lock Screen/Control-Alt-Delete Screen

  1. Image titled Turn Off a Personal Computer Step 18
    1
    Choose
    Image titled Windowspower.png
    Power in the bottom right corner.     Then choose the appropriate option.
    • To emergency restart (if you ran out of RAM or CPU processing), press Ctrl+Alt+Delete, hold Control while clicking power, then click on "Yes".
  2. Image titled Turn Off a Personal Computer Step 19
    2
    Click on the appropriate option. Here are the options:
    • Shut down - shuts down the computer, and installs any Windows Updates.
    • Restart - shuts down the computer, installs any Windows Updates, and starts your computer again. Useful if your computer is having trouble with hardware and programs.
    • Sleep - turns off your computer's display and temporarily halts any running programs.
    • Hibernate - turns off your computer and saves your data to a hibernation file. Useful for airplanes where devices need to be powered down for a period of time.
  3. Image titled Turn Off a Personal Computer Step 20
    3
    Confirm that you want to shut down/restart your computer if other users are logged in. This can be done by clicking on Shutdown/Restart anyway or Yes.
  4. Image titled Turn Off a Personal Computer Step 21
    4
    Force a shut down/restart if programs are not responding. Click on Shutdown/Restart anyway or Force shutdown/restart to force a shutdown or restart.
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On InstantGo

  1. Image titled Windows 10 Desktop.png
    1
    Hold the power button of your computer for five seconds.
  2. Image titled Slidetoshutdown.png
    2
    Drag the screen down.
  3. Image titled Turn Off a Personal Computer Step 24
    3
    Force a shut down/restart if programs are not responding. Click on Shutdown/Restart anyway or Force shutdown/restart to force a shutdown or restart.
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Method 2
Method 2 of 2:
Mac

From the Apple Menu

  1. Image titled Turn Off a Personal Computer Step 25
    1
    Click on the
    Image titled Macapple1.png
    Apple menu, then choose the appropriate option:
    • Shut down - shuts down the computer, and installs any Windows Updates.
    • Restart - shuts down the computer, installs any Windows Updates, and starts your computer again. Useful if your computer is having trouble with hardware and programs.
    • Sleep - turns off your computer's display and temporarily halts any running programs.
  2. Image titled Turn Off a Personal Computer Step 26
    2
    Confirm that you want to shut down/restart your computer if other users are logged in. This can be done by entering an administrator username and password and clicking Shutdown/Restart
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From the Login Screen

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    1
    Click on the Shutdown, Restart, or Sleep button.
  2. Image titled Turn Off a Personal Computer Step 28
    2
    Confirm that you want to shut down/restart your computer if other users are logged in. This can be done by entering an administrator username and password and clicking Shutdown/Restart
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From Terminal

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    1
    Open Terminal.
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    2
    Type sudo reboot to restart or sudo halt to shut down. You will not be prompted for the shutdown, but may be prompted for an administrator username and password.
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Community Q&A

  • Question
    My Windows 10 does not have an "All programs" feature, nor a power button. Can anyone help?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    Right-click the Start button.
  • Question
    Will I be able to turn the computer back on?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    Unless something very wrong made your computer turn off, like a virus or electric charge that burned it, you should easily be able to turn it on by pressing the power button. It'll have the symbol of a circle with an opening at the top with a straight line going through it.
  • Question
    How do I left click?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    A left click is just a regular click on a mouse.
  • Question
    When I shut my computer down at night, should I turn off the modem also?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    No, just turn off the computer. Press the 4 squares at the bottom left corner of your screen and click "Power". No need to unplug the modem.
  • Question
    How can I do it if my screen is not on?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    Hold down the power button on the PC to switch it off instantly. However, you may lose unsaved work or data.

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About This Article

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 18 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has been viewed 96,892 times.
How helpful is this?
Co-authors: 18
Updated: April 29, 2021
Views: 96,892
Categories: Basic Computer Skills | Windows | Mac
Article SummaryX

1. Locate the power button and click it.
2. Choose Shutdown, Restart, or Sleep.
3. If you can't find these options, try the methods below.

Did this summary help you?
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