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At any given moment, your computer may be checking for
keystrokes, saving information, or transferring data. This is done in the
background, often without the computer user's knowledge. It is just how the
computer operates.
If you happen to press the on-off hardware button to turn off
the computer while it is transparently working in the background, files may be
damaged, causing future problems. So you should always shut down the computer
through the operating system software rather than pushing the hardware button
to turn off the computer.
For most Windows computers, that means clicking on the Start button and choosing Shut Down. When the Shut Down Windows
screen appears, make sure you answer Shut
Down to the question, "What do you want the computer to do?" Then click
Okay.
Windows XP users will click on Start, then Turn Computer Off,
then Turn Off.
Mac users can
shut down properly by clicking on Special-Shut
Down.
Windows Vista users will click on the black power-button
icon on the bottom left side of the screen, and then choose Shut Down.
Once you complete this shut down process, the software will
close all files properly and the hardware will shut off automatically.
There may be times when the
computer gets frozen and refuses to respond to any commands. In that case, you
may turn the computer off by pressing the on-off button and holding it in for
several seconds. There have been times with both PCs and Macs that even the
on-off button won't work and the only way to turn the computer off will be to
pull the plug. Remember, though, that instances like this should be rare. If
you have to press that on-off switch or pull the plug often, it means that the
computer has a problem that should be corrected before it gets worse.
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