Q:
You recently told us how to create a shutdown shortcut for Windows Vista and you mentioned one for XP, but I can't seem to find it on your Web site. Can you please share the instructions again? Thanks!

A:
I sure can! You're absolutely right, last week, I told you how to make a shutdown shortcut for Windows Vista (if you happened to miss it, you can read that tip here). I wrote an article for propecia and bodybuilding doing the same thing in Windows XP awhile back, but from the looks of all the e-mails I've received lately, a lot of you either missed that tip or you forgot all about it. So, per your request, here are the directions for creating a shutdown shortcut in Windows XP!

So, tell me, do you ever get tired of the repetitive process of shutting down your computer? You know, you have to go to your Start menu and then select Turn Off or Shut Down, whichever your computer has. Then you have to wait for it to actually shut down just to make sure it turned off properly. Well, how would you like to bypass all of that and make the process a little easier?

Well, you can do that by creating a shutdown shortcut for your computer. The shortcut will just be like another icon either on your desktop or in your Quick Launch area. To create one, right click anywhere on your desktop and go to New, Shortcut. A wizard will then pop up and walk you through the steps. In the "Type the location of the item:" box, enter this code: %windir%\System32\shutdown.exe -s.

Now, the s stands for shutdown. If you use that option, your computer will give you a brief waiting time before it actually shuts down. You can also choose to force running applications to stop ( f ) or choose to have no wait time before your PC turns completely off ( t xx ). So, if you would like to have both of those along with your command, enter this code instead: %windir%\System32\shutdown.exe -s -f -t 00. Your computer will then shut down instantly.

Once you have the one you want, click Next. You can then pick a name for your shortcut. I just named mine "Shut Down," but you can use whatever you want. When you're done, click Finish and the new icon will appear on your desktop. You can add it to your Quick Launch area now as well if you want. When you're ready to shut down your computer, double click on the new icon and your computer will turn off. Cool, huh?! And the best part is, it's all done with one quick step. You should now be all set with quick shutdowns forever!