Why should Microsoft Windows operating systems be shut down before turning off the computer?
459237
Hard drives consist of, among other things, platters that store data and heads that read and write it. The heads fly just above or below the fast-spinning platters. \nProperly operating heads do not touch the platters. They run 3 to 7 millionths (.000003 to .000007) of an inch above or below them. That's a tiny space; a human hair, by comparison, is 3 thousandths (.003) of an inch in diameter.\n\nHeads should never touch data areas on the disks. When they do, these collisions are known as head crashes. They're often catastrophic, because they destroy data. So it is critical to avoid them.\n\nBe careful about moving a running computer. Modern hard drives have shock protection built in. Nonetheless, if the heads are flying near the data, a jolt could cause a head crash.\nA modern voice coil drive is usually self-parking, meaning that it automatically withdraws its heads when de-powered. An older drive that employs a stepper motor isn’t self-parking, instead relying on parking instructions supplied by the computer itself. Most modern computers produce such signals on shutdown, but not if you simply turn off the machine.
290332
Turn your computer off.....duh.
894499
won't hurt the laptop, but will mess up your operating system (the program) because it takes a few seconds for the operating system to do "house keeping" and shut down programs in the right order and save inportant info.
580663
Are you turning the computer OFF or STANDBY?
819471
yes because the computer actually turns off. hibernation just means that the ram is written on the hard drive, later the system can be restored to the state it was in when hibernating, so that programs can continue executing as if nothing happened.
1115328
shut down and return?\nOr leave your computer on and return? It could be a whole host of problems. Thats not enough information to really go on.
1072783
one possibilty is it is doing a system check to see if there is any damage done to the files on your disk form the sudden nonsafe shut down.
265636
Make sure the computer shuts down properly.
1074531
I always believed that when a computer hibernates, it almost completely shuts down after taking a shot of what's being worked on to the hard drive. All the programs close, etc. (and in turn, they start back up once you finish "booting" back up again from hibernation), so because the computer is essentially "off," any CD or digital music playing off of the computer would not continue to play since the programs running it would be shut down.
292178
There is probably an application that is not terminating when the computer is being shutdown.  Remove any programs that you do not need and try it again.  Also try closing any open applications manually and try shutting down.  If you hit Ctrl+Alt+Del, and go to processes you can see what is running.  Also make sure you don't have any adware/spyware running.  You a program like Adaware(www.lavasoftusa.com) to check.
895803
Because most harddrives these days keep lots of data in RAM.  Not in storage this allows things to run faster. There are 8MB and 16MB cache harddrives that can keep 8MB or 16MB of data in there own ram and kinda remembers it.  When you shutdown it will put this data back onto the drive. When you unplug it all this data is erased and you never know what exactly it is. This could seriously messup your computer just like a brownout. \n\nAlso it could damage the hard drive itself not just the data on it. It can also damage other hardwares because of the sudden power lose when you shutdown the power flows out the cord. Windows also goes though several steps during shutdown to prevent future computer problems and to make startups more accurate , fast and safe as well.   I am sure there are many more reasons but here a few.\n\nEdited---\n\nOne other thing my mother once broke her power cord unplugging it so often but it was an older computer that would not shutdown on itself anyhow and she did not care much. So you could wreck the cord itself.
250204
It depends on your priorities.\n\nFrom a power cost standpoint, it's cheaper to turn them off. Remember, a PC uses like 300 watts all the time it's on. That costs $.\n\nFrom a hardware standpoint, the hardware will have a longer lifetime if you leave it running all the time. Every time the hard drive powers down, wether it be from powering down the system or setting the hard drive to turn off after so-many-minutes, every time the hard drive spins down, when you start it back up, it's a jolt on the drive motor and will reduce it's life.  Even simple things like the power button will wear out if you use it too much.\n\nMy own systems, I never turn them off. I disabled the hard drive time-out so it never spins down. My drives have been "spinning" for years.\n\nIf you make good backups and cost is an issue, then power it down. But you'll probably have to replace things like your hard drive and case fans every few years.\n\nIf cost isn't an issue and want your hardware to last longer, then leave it running.  As the others said, just make sure you room is cool enough all 24 hours.
254888
No. The prompt is a second chance so-to-speak, so that you don't shut down a critical program like explorer.exe. Shutting down some processes will shut down critcal programs needed to run Windows properly. You can find out more info in the "help and support" section.
596917
Shutting down your PC should ALWAYS be done by using the "shutdown button". Windows will unload certain components from the memory, save it's present settings and flush the virtual memory when doing so. \nAs stated in the former comment, shutting it down by the power switch (aka hardware reset/shutdown in contrast to software reset/shutdown) will result in the loss of ANY non saved information on your pc and mey provoke STRANGE results on boot-up (desktop settings lost, driver missing etc...). It should ONLY me a last step measure when the pc hangs (does not respond).
581747
You have a virus. It won't shut down because the virus prohibits the computer from being turned off. This is to corrupt data and transmit if you have any Internet connection. Please check your computer for a potential virus. It's best to be safe than sorry.
479088
Nope - turn off the monitor, though, because that consumes a lot more power than the computer itself. Leaving your computer on is actually even better for it, because most failures happen when you turn it off and back on.
1051445
If you program to do that, then... It will do it by itself. If you turn off a computer, you must reboot to restart it. If you have it hibernate, it does not need to reboot.