Shutting down the computer

[David H]

If I press the off button accidentally (new computer, unfamiliar panel) what harm could come to the computer on Windows although on all previous occasions nothing actually does, why are we supposed to do it properly?

[MTIH1992]

Minor things really, it gives your hard drive time to backup your settings, for example if you have changed your background or moved your icons etc. It gives your hard drive time to backup data stored on your RAM into the hard drive so it is there next time you use it. A word document you forgot to save for example would be backed up and 'recoverd' on next boot.

[kempie]

It depends what you mean by the "off button".

If you mean the same front button which powers on the PC, and your PC has an ATX power supply (the industry standard since the late 1990s), then pressing this button will shutdown the PC through software, as it is designed to do, exactly as if you had shutdown using Windows.

If you mean the reset (second) front button, or the power supply switch on the back of the case, or even the power socket switch then the description given by MTIH1992 will apply.

[David H]

Thank you both, it's the 'off' button, although this also has (for the first time) a reset as well. On Windows 98 it always ran scandisk when you did this but now it appears cutting the power is less of a risk than it used to be.

[kempie]

You aren't cutting the power when you press the on/off button - it starts the Windows shutdown process.