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Windows 8 reboots (restarts) instead of shutting down

A number of Winaero readers write to me regularly saying they have various shutdown-related issues with Windows 8 (and now Windows 8.1). The most popular issue is that their PC reboots instead of shutting down. When they click shut down, Windows 8 doesn't shutdown, but instead restarts.

It is hard to tell what is the exact cause of such behavior, because the reason can be different from PC to PC, but in this article we will explore some solutions which can be helpful if you are facing this problem of the computer rebooting instead of doing a shut down.

How to disable or enable Fast Startup in Windows 8.1

Fast Startup is a new feature which is introduced in Windows 8 RTM. It allows your computer to start faster than normal by logging off the user session and then saving a part of system related files and drivers to a hibernation file. When you turn on your PC again, it resumes from hibernate and logs you in again. In other words, the fast startup feature combines the classic shutdown mechanisms with hibernation, so it can be called 'hybrid shutdown'. Hybrid shutdown is enabled by default in Windows 8 and its successor, Windows 8.1. Follow this article to learn how to disable the fast boot feature or enable it back, and why you may want to do so.

How to perform a clean boot of Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 to diagnose issues

If you suddenly got some unexpected behavior on your Windows 8 PC, then the first thing you should do is take a diagnostic approach by way of elimination. There are plenty of factors which can be the cause of issues like slowdowns, BSODs, freezes and even sudden reboots. The best way to detect what exactly is the cause of the trouble is to perform a clean boot. Using a clean boot, you can find if the OS is damaged by some third party app or a bad driver. By preventing them from loading, you can exclude the influence of these two factors.

Nature HD#33 theme for Windows 8

How to reset the Start Screen layout in Windows 8.1 and Windows 8

In Windows 8 and Windows 8.1, the Start Screen is designed as a touchscreen-friendly Start menu replacement. It focuses on the concept of pinning. Everything must be pinned to the Start screen and it appears as a tile. Earlier in Windows 8 RTM, it pinned every single installed app automatically, creating a real mess of random icons splattered all across the Start Screen. Thankfully, in Windows 8.1, Microsoft has changed this behavior. Windows 8.1 does not pin anything automatically, so you are able to keep your Start Screen well organized. With help of apps like Pin to 8, you can even pin any file, folder or system location.

If you want to change the way your Start Screen is organized, you may want to reset its layout to the defaults. It's pretty easy to do this.

Customize the taskbar date and time formats in Windows 8.1, Windows 8 and Windows 7

One of our readers wanted to know what is a good clock replacement for the default Taskbar clock in Windows because he didn't like the format in which Windows shows the time and date. While many power users would want to replace the system tray clock on the Taskbar with a more powerful one for extra features, the format of the built-in clock in modern versions of Windows is customizable. In this article we will see how we can change the format.

Daily Bing #34 theme for Windows 8

Daily Bing #34

Reduce extra space between icons on the taskbar and tray notification area

Ever since Windows 7 got released, the Windows desktop has had a redesigned Taskbar which is also designed for multi-touch. The icons are larger on the Taskbar so they're easier to access using touch and they are spaced wider apart. The notification area icons (the small ones in the system tray) are also spaced much farther apart than they were in previous versions of Windows. While this definitely makes them easier to access, they do waste a lot of space. Let us see how we can reduce the space between the icons on the taskbar as well as the icons in the notification area.

Customization for power users with 7+ Taskbar Tweaker

In an earlier article, we became familiar with how we can make the taskbar in Windows 8.1, Windows 8 and Windows 7 work like the classic XP taskbar using 7+ Taskbar Tweaker. It also includes some extra customizations for advanced users which we will look at today.