Vista - Log off or shutdown?

I have a Toshiba Satellite Laptop, 3G Ram, Vista Home Premium, AMD Turion 64x2. I would like to know, if any loss of info or damage to hardware and/or software could happen by never doing a shutdown, just logging off and pulling the plug?

Very Curious!

There is always a possibility, if not a certainty, that you will loose data
by simply logging off and pulling the plug. Logging off assumes you are
going to log on again relatively soon or else you are changing users.
Shutdown, on the other hand, completely shuts down your machine.
I certainly wouldn't risk logging off and pulling the plug. I shutdown
every single time.

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--
John Barnett MVP
Windows XP Associate Expert
Windows Desktop Experience

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"haplyss" <guest@xxxxxx-email.com> wrote in message
news:1020179788ca4fefaf7669d5a6149c2c@xxxxxx-gateway.com...

> I have a Toshiba Satellite Laptop, 3G Ram, Vista Home Premium, AMDI believe you are risking corrupting the OS if you don't allow it to
shutdown fully on it's own. Is it a time issue? You can program the power
options so it will shutdown when you close the lid. That way you don't have
to wait.

"haplyss" <guest@xxxxxx-email.com> wrote in message
news:1020179788ca4fefaf7669d5a6149c2c@xxxxxx-gateway.com...Why not use hibernate. Just as fast as logging off, and much
quicker on startup than a regular startup. You won't need to
log off, but will need to log back on. Hibernate shuts off the
system after completion, so you can disconnect power.

On Tue, 13 Jan 2009 11:58:06 -0800, "Victek" <Victek@xxxxxx>
wrote:
On my XP Toshiba it appears that using the power button to shut down
acts exactly as if I use the proper shut down procedure. When I start
back up, Windows does not offer me Safe Mode and other alternatives,
nor does it do an auto chkdsk.

Max

I am the only user of my computer. From Monday to Saturday, I leave the puter on and just let it go into sleep mode. When I go to bed, I put it into sleep mode. Sunday night, I shut the computer off and turn off the modem. I have heard, and believe, that it improves service to shut down the computer ocassionally.

>>> I have a Toshiba Satellite Laptop, 3G Ram, Vista Home Premium, AMDYou are correct. Pushing the power button briefly will initiate a "proper"
shutdown, meaning that XP takes over and shuts down the computer, just like
when you select shutdown via the Start Menu. Of course if you push and hold
the power button for a few seconds the computer will just shut off which is
the equivalent of a power failure and the OS may suffer. It's worth
checking the Control Panel Power applet to see the default settings for the
power button, lid, etc. for laptops and make sure it is configured the way
you prefer.

Log off and then pull the plug? No, don't do that.

Here's three recommended modes to use when putting the computer to rest.
1) Sleep
2) Hibernate
3) Shut down

You can put it in Sleep or Hibernate mode every night, but at least once or
twice a week it's good practicve to Shut Down computer so certain OS and
program files can be refreshed.



--
oscar

....Right click is your very good friend...


"haplyss" wrote:

Just so you know, after you log off the system there are no data files loaded in the main memory, so you will not lose any data or settings after you logoff. But its not recommended that you switch of the pC in that manner. Its always better to wait a while and shut the computer down using conventional methods.