Shortcut to Shutdown

We've all noted the irony of having to click on Start to shut down. But you can create a shortcut that will automatically shut down your PC, log you off, or reboot.

Right-click on the desktop and choose New | Shortcut. Browse to the file C:\Windows\System32\Shutdown.exe, click Next, name the shortcut, and click Finish. Now right-click on the new shortcut and choose Properties. In the Target box, append the command line switch -l (to log off), -s (to shut down), or -r (to reboot).

If you also add the switch –t xx (where xx is a number of seconds), Shutdown.exe will display a warning and countdown before activating. You can specify a comment to be displayed with the warning by adding the switch -c "Your text". The countdown behavior is particularly useful if the shutdown is launched through the Scheduled Tasks applet. Once it's activated, the only way to stop the program is to launch it again with the -a (for abort) switch on its command line—you might create a separate Cancel Shutdown shortcut for that.