How To Turn Off Windows

"This has gotta be a joke," you're saying reading this title. Well, that's exactly what I'm thinking everyday that I use this "operating system."



Let's get it out of the way; no matter how deep you are into or how much time you spend with your favorite flavor, the reality is that only too often we got to hold our noses and use Windows. It's just there. It's everywhere. Our clients are on it... hell, our co-workers are probably on it. And just like we can't let Windows alone, apparently niether can Microsoft. They kept tinkering and tinkering, and now windows 10 has been out for over a year.

The big spark that made me write this post came from doing the only thing I think any of us actually enjoy doing with Windows: turning it off.

Of course, the old faithful Alt+F4+Enter shortcut still works. Unfortunately it's the only one that works. See, I had a PC connected to my TV for a while running windows 7, so sometimes it was useful to be able to turn the PC off without being able to see the desktop. You can see how this adds an extra step and you gotta hit Win+D to get to desktop first. But in Windows 7 you didn't have to do that. You just had to press Win, , Enter and that was it!

Look how neat it looks! Just hit the right key after the Win key and that. was. it.

It was easy to use, easy to remember, and saved your like.... half a second compared to win+D, alt+f4, enter. In Windows 10, the sequence actually appears like... well, I can't even remember! After the win key, you have to press at least two different keyboard directions, and multiple times even. That's tough.

But this really underscores why moving away from Windows just makes sense. Clearly, their developers aren't concerned with petty trivialities like making their OS easier to navigate, use, or even turn off. There seems to be this pretense that Win10 is some kind of work of art where aesthetics can take point over UX. Especially when those aesthetics aren't exactly blowing anyone away either.

Well hey, we'll try to keep these struggles to a minimum and hope you do too!

Until next time!