How to shut down or restart your computer in Windows 11

A computer is a machine that needs to breathe from time to time. It should be turned off or at least restarted from time to time. Here’s how to do it in Windows 11.

Leaving your computer on 24 hours a day can be tempting, sometimes quite convenient, but you should still turn it off completely and cleanly about once a week. This allows the system to turn off background processes that build up over time and eventually slow down your machine’s performance.

Turning off your computer also allows machine components, such as the cooling system, to get some rest. Like any electronic device, computers can be damaged if left on for too long. Hibernation reduces this risk, but your computer can still benefit from a complete shutdown from time to time.

Restarting your computer is sometimes necessary to apply important updates, including security patches, so you should also shut down or restart your computer every week.

Here are a few ways to shut down or restart your PC in Windows 11.

How to shutdown and restart through the taskbar

1. Click the Start button on the taskbar.
2. Press the round power button in the lower right corner of the Start menu.
3. Then choose whether you want to shut down, restart, or hibernate.

If you want to limit the number of clicks as much as possible, you can do the following:

1. Right-click the Start button on the taskbar and hover over Shut down or exit.
2. Select Shut Down, Hibernate, Restart, or Log Out.

How to shutdown and restart using shortcuts

1. Type Alt + F4 on your keyboard – be careful, if you have an application open, it will instantly close. Windows will ask you if you want to shut down your computer, change user, log off, put your computer to sleep, or restart your computer.
2. Select the option that suits you and click OK.

You can also use the “classic”combination to force shutdown.

1. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del. simultaneously to display the options menu.
2. Press the round power button in the lower right corner of the screen.
3. Choose Sleep, Shut Down, or Restart.