Logging Off from Windows Vista

The most pleasant thing you'll do with Windows Vista all day could very well be to stop using it. And you do that the same way you started: by using the Start button, that friendly little helper you've been using all along. (And if the Start menu is hiding, hold down Ctrl and press Esc to bring it back from behind the trees.) You want one of the following two buttons resting at the bottom of the Start menu:

• Sleep/Power: Sleep mode (margin, top) comes in handy when you won't be using your PC for several hours but want to start up where you left off. Designed for impatient desktoppers, this option memorizes your currently open windows and then turns off your PC. When you turn on your PC, your open programs and documents appear on the desktop where you left them. On laptops, this option is a Power button (margin, bottom) that simply turns off your PC.

• Lock: Meant for short trips to the water cooler, this option locks your PC and places your user account picture on the screen. When you return, type your password, and Vista instantly displays your desktop, just as you left it. This option appears on both laptops and desktop PCs.

Windows Vista offers several other ways to close your session. Look closely at the arrow to the right of the Lock button. Click the arrow to see up to seven options, shown in Figure 1:

• Switch User: If somebody else just wants to borrow the computer for a few minutes, choose Switch User. The Welcome screen appears, but Windows keeps your open programs waiting in the background. When you switch back, everything's just as you left it.

• Log Off: Choose this option when you're through working at the PC and somebody else wants to have a go at it. Windows saves your work and your settings and returns to the Welcome screen, ready for the next user.

• Lock: For some reason, Microsoft offers the Lock option again.

• Restart: Only choose this option when Windows Vista screwed something up — several programs crashed or Windows seems to be acting awfully weird. Windows Vista turns off and reloads itself, hopefully feeling refreshed.

• Sleep: New to Vista, this option saves a copy of your work in your PC's memory and its hard drive and then slumbers in a low power state. When you turn your PC back on, Vista presents your desktop, programs, and windows as if you'd never left. (On a laptop, Sleep saves your work only to memory; should the battery life grow threateningly low, Sleep dumps the work onto the hard drive and turns off your laptop.)

• Hibernate: Found on some laptops, this option copies your work to your hard drive and then turns off your PC — a process requiring more battery power than Sleep mode.

• Shut Down: Choose this option when nobody else will be using the computer until the next morning. Windows Vista saves everything and turns off your computer.

When you tell Windows Vista that you want to quit, it searches through all your open windows to see whether you've saved all your work. If it finds any work you've forgotten to save, it lets you know so that you can click the OK button to save it. Whew!

You don't have to shut down Windows Vista. In fact, some people leave their computers turned on all the time, saying it's better for their computer's health. Others say that their computers are healthier if they're turned off each day. Still others say Vista's new Sleep mode gives them the best of both worlds. However, everybody says to turn off your monitor when you're done working. Monitors definitely enjoy cooling down when not in use.

Don't just press your PC's Off button to turn off your PC. Instead, be sure to shut down Windows Vista through one of its official Off options: Sleep, Hibernate, or Shut Down. Otherwise, Windows Vista can't properly prepare your computer for the dramatic shutdown event, leading to future troubles.