Shutting Down, Restarting, and Sleep Mode/Standby on Your Computer

Shut Down & Restart

A number of computer issues can be resolved by restarting your computer. You can restart your computer by selecting the Start Menu, selecting the Power icon, and selecting Restart.

PALCS recommends that a computer should be turned off at least once a week. Turning off your computer regularly will increase computer performance and longevity.

We also recommend that prior to the start of the school year, students turn on and log in to their computer several times to ensure it is in working order and to receive any important updates being sent from PALCS or from software developers like Microsoft, Google, Firefox and Zoom. 

Closing your computer’s lid is NOT the same as shutting down the computer. To shut down your computer, select the Start Menu, select the Power icon, and select Shut down.

Hard Reboot

If your computer freezes, you can do a hard reboot. This achieves the same results as turning off your computer normally (in that the computer shuts off,) but it is only to be used as a last resort. Do not perform a hard reboot regularly.

1. Press and hold the power button on the front of the computer for approximately 5 seconds. The computer will shut off. No lights should be near the power button. If lights are still on, you can unplug the power cord to the computer tower.
2. Wait 30 seconds.
3. Push the power button to turn the computer on again.

Stand by Mode

As an alternative to turning off the computer, you can put the computer in sleep mode. When the computer is in sleep mode, it goes into a low-power state and the monitor is blank as if it is turned off.
The advantage of sleep mode is that you save time and electricity without having to wait for the computer to go through the normal startup routine when you wake it up again. Also, the next time you use the computer, any programs, folders, and documents that were open are still available.
To put the computer in sleep mode manually:

1. Click Start on the taskbar
2. Click Sleep.
3. Click Stand By

To wake the computer from sleep, press the power button or press the Esc key on the keyboard.
<The power options in Windows 7 are managed by ZCM, we should remove this next paragraph>
To conserve power, you can set the power management timers to put the computer into sleep mode automatically. To do this, go to Start > Control Panel and double-click Power Options. Set the timers for how long your computer should wait before it goes into sleep mode.