Sit up and shut down

This is one of WE Compute’s most popular Cheap Tricks ever.

Windows 95 and 98 have almost turned shutting off your computer into a 12-step program. These programs  are the beta test for NT interface features, so even upgrading to NT won't resolve this problem.

Note: For some reason, We Compute included only a DOS (that is, Win95/98) version, not an NT version, of this trick.

You have to click on the Start button, click on Shut Down, select Shut down again and click on OK. And the computer is still on. You have to wait until it tells you it’s okay, and then you can actually push the various buttons on your PC, monitor and printer to turn them off. But you can set things up so at least the first part of the operation is reduced to click-click.

Right-click on your Windows 95 or 98 desktop and, in the menu that pops up, choose New and Shortcut. In the dialogue box that appears, type the command line C:\windows\rundll.exe user.exe,exitWindows with a space before user only. (This assumes your Windows 95 or 98 directory is called Windows and is on drive C. If not, substitute the real directory name for windows in the command line. Click on Next and name the new shortcut something clever like "Shut Down". Click on Finish.

Now a "Shut Down" icon appears on your desktop. Double-click on it and you’re out. That fast.

Note: This trick works with the systems we’ve tested it on, but a few users have found it works for them better if they use rundll32.exe in the command line instead of rundll.exe. And at least one reader has found he has to revise the line to C:\Windows\rundll.exe \system\user,exitWindows for the trick to work.