Computer Shutdown

[whlspacedude]

Just wondering if it is bad for a computer to be shutdown by pushing the power
button.

I had always assumed that the power button served as a shortcut for shutting down windows. But my PLTW teacher does not seem to think so.

[Branden Ghena]

I always thought of the power button as an emergency shutdown only button, but seeing as it only takes about a minute more, why not just cut the possibility of computer problems and shut down the computer the normal way.

[EricH]

I only use it to shut down if the computer completely locks up. Then I start the computer back up so I can shut it down properly.

[Pat Fairbank]

Edit: beaten by the above post

Well, on ATX motherboards if you just press the power button once Windows will shut down normally (or stand by, or hibernate, depending on your power settings). That's ok.

But if you're talking about holding down the power button until the computer abruptly shuts off, then yes, it can be a bad thing. If the computer was in the middle of a hard disk write, you can end up with corrupted files. For example, I spent the better part of Thursday at the 2006 Championship fixing the only laptop that had our (296's) code on it, because someone had shut it down incorrectly and it couldn't boot Windows because of corrupted system files (it only took that long to fix because it had some kind of funky SATA-RAID system that required 3rd-party drivers).

[Elgin Clock]

I agree with alll the above posts. It's only a good thing when you have your computer already locked up.

Also, most people don't safely remove USB type devices as well.

I don't think removing something like a USB printer, or a USB powered toy-like device (fan, christmas tree, cup warmer) is going to kill anything, but that USB connected jump drive, or portable hard drive could in fact be corrupted in the same way if you don't use the "safely remove hardware" icon in your task bar.

Although, my experiences with a USB external HD is one of sheer luck it seems sometimes.
Sometimes it says it's cool to remove the first time I click that, and other times it yells at me and says it's not cool to remove hardware even though every window is closed that I had open that was referencing that drive.

In that case, I hit the button to shut it off if no lights are on the external hard drive itself, and have been so far (knock on wood) good to go the next time I have started it up.

[Schnabel]

At my school, they always tell the students to shutdown properly, the only problem is that even the techs use the power button to shut down. If your computer has the capabilities to shut down when pressing the power button once, then I say go for it. It is very hard on the computer if you press and hold the button however.

[DonRotolo]

Depends on your OS

By cutting power, your Windows machine may be in an undesireable state at that moment, for example writing a file (even if you don't know it), and you can cause it harm. In newer machines, where you ahve to hold the power button for it to shut down, the CPU knows enough to abort all operations, so there is a reduced chance of problems, but that is very far from zero.

On the other hand, that's the only way to shut down a computer running DOS.

Don

[Pavan Dave]

It depends. If you push the power button it will many times "safely" shut down your computer. If you keep it pressed though it will "unsafely" black out. The first one for the lazy people that are in a hurry yet still want to save money on power and the latter for those whose computers have frozen and have work to do!

[whitetiger0990]

The big problem is if you are in the middle of a file write. You can get bytes in weird places..

This is usually what happens if you aren't careful when you unplug your flashdrive. For computers, it's not really a huge issue. If I'm in a rush, power button. Else, shutdown normally.

[whytheheckme]

I put undecided.

I am fully aware of the DANGERS of unsafely turning off your computer, but...

I have on numerous occasions (ok maybe daily) turned off my computer forcefully, without a problem (to my knowledge.) Just make sure your computer isn't 'busy' or reading/writing to the disk. As long as everything is safely written to the disk, and the head is off the surface, I can't see anything bad going on (some corrupted temporary data... big deal?)

So my IT Admin self says 'NEVER turn it of improperly', but my gut says 'Just make sure the disk isn't writing.'

Jacob

[Chief Pride]

Originally Posted by whytheheckme

I put undecided.

I am fully aware of the DANGERS of unsafely turning off your computer, but...

I have on numerous occasions (ok maybe daily) turned off my computer forcefully, without a problem (to my knowledge.) Just make sure your computer isn't 'busy' or reading/writing to the disk. As long as everything is safely written to the disk, and the head is off the surface, I can't see anything bad going on (some corrupted temporary data... big deal?)

So my IT Admin self says 'NEVER turn it of improperly', but my gut says 'Just make sure the disk isn't writing.'

Jacob

you it is right, when you shutoff (HOLDING the power button, not just pressing it) that way sometimes there is a small surge, not enough to actually damage anything, but the more you do it the more life you take off your processor...

i have to explain to everyone that processors are like trucks... a 2.4 ghz isnt going to put out 2.4 ghz forever

[ham90mack]

What exactly do you mean? Pressing and holding the power button to turn off your computer is always a bad thing unless you absolutely need to. However, since Windows XP came out (and maybe 2000, but definitely not 98) pressing, not holding, the power button will trigger sleep, hibernation, shutdown, or nothing at all depending on your power settings. If you set the power button to trigger a normal shutdown when pressed, then there is no problem with pressing it as long as you do not hold. Just don't try it on older computers, such as Windows 98 and previous version computers, because most of their power buttons literally are power buttons (immediate shutdown).

So yes, the power button may be a shortcut in modern computers for shutdown. From my experience, some modern computers actually have the power button set to sleep by default instead of shutdown.

[MiniNerd24]

I'm sure that it doesn't let your computer save your settings.

[EHaskins]

I corrupted a drive once by holding the power button. Luckly I'm paranoid about loosign data so I had backups.

You should only do that as a last resort.

If you have it configured to shutdown properly, go into sleep, ect., thats fine, but killing it is bad.

EDIT: Someone menitioned USB drives getting corrupted, I had that happen once too, but that wasn't backed up.

[Sam Fisher]

On my Latitude C600 under Power management it has a section asking what the computer should do when the power button is pressed, so i guess if they have a section for it it must be ok. I normaly don't turn it off that way and only use it when the system becomes frozen. But I don't seen any problem with forced shutdown occasionaly.
If you just don't want to wait for it to shut down change the registry(Found this on the web)

Sometimes when you're shutting down, XP will sort of just sit there and twiddle its thumbs, so to speak. That's because it is waiting for applications or services to stop hanging and shut down. Eventually it will do something about it, but why not get to it quicker? Here's how to make XP force a quick shutdown
1. Click Start -> Run -> type 'regedit' -> OK
2. Locate 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Control Panel\Desktop\'
3.Select 'WaitToKillAppTimeout'
4. Right click and select 'Modify'
5. Change the value to '1000'
6. Now select 'HungAppTimeout'
7. Right click and select 'Modify'
8. Change the value to '1000'
9. Now find 'HKEY_USERS\ .DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop'
10. Select 'WaitToKillAppTimeout'
11. Right click and select 'Modify'
12. Change the value to '1000'
13. Now find 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ System\CurrentControlSet\Control\'
14. Select 'WaitToKillServiceTimeout'
15. Right click and select 'Modify'
16. Change the value to '1000'