The Shut-Down Dilemna

Ever since I have upgraded to Windows 8 on my laptop (along with my ubiquitous Linux installation of course), I have had mixed feelings. Apart from the normal grouse of a very inefficient start "panel", my main complaint is that Windows 8 does not have a fast way of shutting down the computer. Quite irritating. For some reason, Microsoft wants us to use sleep mode as the default option. I think the MS design team has never traveled to India or experienced load shedding. Every minute of battery life is worth preserving, much like every drop of water! Even the Microsoft website tells us to (and this is copied from their website) - 

1. Close any desktop apps you have open—this will prompt you to save your work.
2. Press the Win Key OR 
3. Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, and then tap Settings.
4. Tap or click Power
5. Tap or click Shut Down

5 steps to shut down my machine? It's as if Rube Goldberg was head of the UI design team for Windows 8! 

Anyhoo, so finally I figured out how to make a shutdown easier on Windows (It's been quite a long time since I have done RnD on Windows as an OS). Here goes - 

• Right-click on the desktop. 
• Go to "New > Shortcut"
• In the location field, type "shutdown /s /t 0" (without the double-quotes). 

• Give it a nice power icon by right-clicking the newly created shortcut and going to properties. You will see a "Change Icon" button there.

• You can either place this icon on the desktop in the lower right-hand corner as I have done, or pin it to your start menu. 
• You can also give it a shortcut key to make the whole process even easier.