Creating a Fast Shut Down Icon

Buried deep inside Windows XP lurks a little-known program called shutdown that shuts down your system in a very fast but orderly way. Here is how to put an icon on your desktop that shuts down your machine quickly:

1. Right-click any empty location on your desktop and then choose New → Shortcut. The Create Shortcut Wizard appears.
2. In the Type the Location of the Item box, type
   
   shutdown -s -t 0
   
   It is important that you put spaces before each hyphen, that you have no spaces after each hyphen, and that you use a zero at the end.
   
   
   This shortcut points directly to the Windows program called shutdown.
3. Then Click Next. So, in the Type a Name for This Shortcut box, use a name that will remind you that this button is for a very quick shut down. Its like a magic because its VERY quick shutdown.
4. Click Finish. You have a new shortcut on your desktop.
5. Now we are going to change the Shutdown Shortcut Icon. Right-click the shortcut and choose Properties. Click the Change Icon button. Pick an appropriate icon for the shortcut and double-click it.
   
   
   
   Choose an icon that won't be confused with more prosaic icons on your desktop.
6. Click OK, and your new, quick shut down shortcut appears on the desktop.

To test the new, fast shut down icon, make sure no programs are running, and double-click it. On a typical machine, you see the log-off screen in about three seconds, and after another two or three seconds, you get the It is now safe to turn off your computer message.

Windows gives you a short period of time to save changes in your Office documents, and other applications quit in an orderly way.