How to Restart or Shutdown Computer

Description:

This article is meant to show you the proper process to restart and shut down your Windows 11 workstations.

Recommendations:

At least once a week you should shutdown or restart your computer giving it a chance to install updates, clear temporary files, and generally keep it running smoothly.
If you are having frequent issues that force you to stop what you are doing to shutdown or restart your computer, please inform the IT support group by opening a ticket.

How to:

Start by clicking the Windows logo in your task bar to open the Start Menu.
- Alternatively, you can also press the Windows key on your keyboard.
On the right side of the Start Menu, click the Power symbol.
Select either Shutdown or Restart.

Updates that require Restart:

You may see a yellow dot on the power button that looks like this , or you will notice an update notification in your taskbar like this .

When you see either of these, that means there is an update that needs to be installed while the computer is restarting.

In the Start Menu when you click the power symbol you will have to select either "Update and shut down" or "Update and restart".

This will usually give you an estimate for how much time the update will add to the process.