Important Shutdown Information

 KDD Group :

    Thank you all for your efforts to learn about some good procedures to follow in computer maintenance.  If you're reading this web page, it means you've done more than most!  Congratulations!  Now, here is some quick info about the difference between Shutdown -> Restart and Shutdown ->Shutdown.

When in Windows

Shutdown -> Restart

    This command is what we will always want to use from a windows-based OS.  Our machines are dual-boot, so when this command is used, it will essentially reboot the system to Linux if left alone.  This is what we desire, it's a good thing, please don't be scared of Linux.  So, in essence, we never really need to truly Shutdown our systems.  Use Shutdown -> Restart instead.  To conclude :

     Shutdown -> Restart always!  (Please :) )

Shutdown -> Shutdown

    This command kills the computer.  Fine'.  Dead.  Its mail will stop coming, because it will be dead.  Its friends won't visit it, because it will be dead.  It won't be able to laugh, or have a good time anymore.  Worms will have a sudden attraction to our computer.  So, please, do not use Shutdown -> Shutdown.  It is a bad thing.  If the computer really needs to be turned off, reboot to Linux, and use the command line argument "shutdown -h now".  This is one of the only safe ways to turn off one of our systems.

When in Linux

    Pushing the reset button while in Linux is one of the most hurtful things you can do to one of our systems.  Linux is meant to be shutdown via Linux commands, and when a user hits the reset or power button, or pulls the power cord, our systems can be damaged in ways that take hours to repair.  Sometimes, very rarely, everything will turn out ok.  For the most part though, halting Linux improperly will always cause something on the system to be lost or damaged.  So please, when in Linux use one of the following commands to reboot or shutdown.

"shutdown -r now"   -----  This command will reboot the system, where you will be able to choose between Linux or Windows as an OS.

"shutdown -h now"  -----  This command will turn off the computer properly.  Linux will shutdown the system, and when the computer is turned     back on, you will have the choice between Linux and Windows as an OS.  

For more information on the shutdown command, a manual page on it can be found by typing "man shutdown" in one of our Linux systems.

Thanks for your time everyone, and thank you for taking an extra step in learning.  Until next time, Sayonara!

-KDD Sys Admin Team

(Thanks to the movie High Strung for the rant material.)