Another Vista gripe… Where’s my damn shutdown button!

As time passes on, i’m finding more and more bugs with the new Windows Vista operating system. Having been forced into upgrading (i’m not sure it should actually qualify as an upgrade) at work by the powers that be, I find myself being tormented on a daily basis by issues that just shouldn’t be there.

My latest bugbear, the mysterious shutdown button.

Now I know there must be some reason Microsoft decided not to add the normal shutdown button to the start menu, and I’m assuming it’s to push the new hybrid sleep mode. When I click start, I want to have the option to turn my computer off, not lower it into some useless low power, hybrid sleep mode. By calling it sleep, you’d imagine that you can wake your computer up. Well, this may just be me but I’ve never been able to ‘wake’ up from a Windows induced sleep coma.

So, as with most options in a Windows system, you can easily change the sleep button back to the beloved shutdown button. I mean come on guys, it’s been there since Windows 95. We like it there! Let it be!

• Start
• Run (or if you don't have enabled, hold the 'Win' key and hit R)
• Type: gpedit.msc
• Browse to: Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Power Management > Button Settings
• Set the 'Select the Start Menu Power Button Action' to 'Enabled' and choose 'Shut down'.

Voila, a nice new shiny red shutdown button on your start menu. Don’t you feel much more at home now?