Fast Shut Down Icon in XP

Buried deep inside Windows XP lurks a little-known program called shutdown that shuts down your system in a very fast — but orderly — way.

Here's how to put an icon on your desktop that'll shut down your machine quickly:

1. Right-click any empty location on your desktop.

2. Click New, Shortcut.

The Create Shortcut Wizard appears.

3. In the Type the Location of the Item box, type shutdown -s -t 0.

It's important that you put spaces before each hyphen, that you have no spaces after each hyphen, and that you use a zero at the end.

4. Click Next.

5. In the Type a Name for This Shortcut box, use a name that will remind you that this button is for a very quick shut down.

6. Click Finish.

You have a new shortcut on your desktop.

7. Right-click the shortcut and click Properties. Click the Change Icon button.

8. Pick an appropriate icon for the shortcut and double-click it.

9. Click OK, and your new, quick shut down shortcut appears on the desktop.

To test the new, fast shut down icon, make sure no programs are running, and double-click it. On a typical machine, you see the log-off screen in about three seconds, and after another two or three seconds, you get the "It is now safe to turn off your computer" message.

This isn't a leisurely process. Windows gives you a short period of time to save changes in your Office documents, and other applications quit in an orderly way.