How to turn off the computer with the keyboard in windows

If you are in this tutorial, you want to learn how to turn off the computer with the keyboard, right? Simple. Here we are going to show you how to do that and some extra tricks to make the keyboard an extension of your body.

Many times we misuse the utensils at hand. Maybe an object serves four things and we only use two and in this theme the keyboard is a great misunderstanding.

Most readers will have a keyboard of between 80 and 110 keys and I reveal you as there are many hidden commands between them. From key shortcuts to several functionalities grouped into one. To turn off the computer you will need to know some of them, so if you are interested in knowing more, stay with us.

Index of contents

Functionalities necessary to turn off the computer

As we just told you, Windows is that Operating System that has a series of functionalities packed inside a key. Many users know and enjoy them, but what are they?

Now we will show you a list with a trio of buttons and their extra features that will be useful if you use them in your day to day.

Tab → ←

Tab button

The tabulator is that long key in the first column from the left (if you don't have macros or other support buttons). It is located above the Lock. Shift and normally you will have used it to tabulate text, that is, advance it to certain specific points of the text line. Its main function is that, after all, but we can do much more with it.

In most websites, desktop applications and others, if we have selected an item (an icon, an option…) we can go forward with the tab button. Even if you don't have anything selected, pressing tab will start selecting each clickable box. Here below we will show you a practical example of this on the Google homepage.

• When entering the web page, we have selected the search bar.

• Pressing tab will move us to the next clickable object, that is, voice search.

• If we repeat this action, we will go to one of the languages.

As you can see, we can go through a list either on a website, a program or even Windows options .

We can also go through it in reverse. If you press Shift / Shift + Tab, instead of advancing to the next object, you will move to the previous object. This in case you have passed.

A very common use is to go through forms with the tabulator, so I guess most of you knew it. Thus we can be writing continuously without having to resort to the mouse.

Space / Space Bar

"Okay, okay, now are you going to tell me that the bar has special powers?" Well, not exactly. Simply, I have to tell you that the space has, at least, an extra extra functionality to separate your words.

You may already know how to tabulate between selectable objects. You probably didn't know you could tab back, but what did you do once you selected the object you wanted? If it was a field to fill with text it was simple, you only wrote, but what if it was a button or a multiple selection?

That's what the space bar is for. Once you have selected an option, to press it you can use the space bar. It would be the equivalent of left-clicking with the mouse and once you start implementing it in your day-to-day life it becomes essential.

Here is another example:

• First fill in the name field.

• Now I press Tab to advance to the next field and I press Space to select Network .

  In Google forms, for unique selections you can only move using the arrows (↑ ↓ → ←).

• Once Network is selected, press Tab to advance to the next field and Pig is preselected. The sequence of keys I have pressed has been:

  Space> Tab> Tab> Space> Tab> Space> Tab> Tab> Space> Tab> Space.

  With this, I have skipped Veal and Peppers (in case you are wondering: no, they are not real data).

As you can see, it can be very useful in forms, but it can also be useful in many other places.

In some programs and applications, the space has other actions, such as pausing and playing music / video on Spotify / YouTube. However, this is all we will see in this article about this key.

Esc / Escape

The Escape button is that misunderstood and lonely button found in the upper left corner of the keyboard. In video games, players are clear that it serves to open the menu and sometimes skip cinematics, but what use is it beyond that.

The Esc key is used to cancel things. For example, if you get a pop-up like this:

You can simply press Esc and cancel the question. Pressing the Escape button is not synonymous with Block, it would be more similar to pressing the "x" , that is, not answering, closing, canceling...

This also works with floating windows, such as Word options or other programs, but here we are interested in its functionality to close / deny. If we have gotten into any trouble when turning off the computer, then the Esc button is a good life-saving method.

How to turn off the computer with the keyboard

Once you have this knowledge, we can get down to work. The procedure is quite simple and does not require any extra skills apart from those we have already explored.

• First, hit the Start button on the keyboard or in the taskbar.

• We have to know that the start menu is subdivided into three zones. As in the example of individual selection, if we tabulate, we will move between zones and not between options.

• Therefore, we must press Tab once. Put us on the button of 3 stripes (more options). Once there we use the arrows to move between the buttons.

• We place ourselves on the Start / Stop button and press Space to press it.

• Once again, we tab to scroll through the next batch of options and press Space to select Shut Down .

If you had an important application open, you probably get a blue screen indicating a message similar to "Trying to close applications before turning off the computer . " On that screen you can Force Shutdown or Wait.

To do this, you have to follow the same method that we have been seeing. First tab up to one of the two options and press Space to confirm your selection.

Remember that Force Shutdown means that programs close suddenly, so they will not save their last changes. Some projects may get corrupted if they close like this, so be careful.

Last conclusions

We hope this article has been useful to you and that it helps you in your day to day. The functionalities that we have seen will not only be useful for you to turn off the computer but for anything you do. You just have to have a little ingenuity and memory.

We recommend reading the best keyboards on the market

If you have any questions or ideas that you want to share, don't hesitate to tell us below. We will be happy to answer you as soon as possible.