Behind the scenes of using your computer every day are a large array of functions and processes going on to make your computer or laptop run and do all the things you want like surf the internet, read emails, Facebook and so on.

Every now and again things go square shaped and your computer will need a restart.

In most cases you will simply be able to go down to your start menu and selectr shuit down or restart.

But what can you do if whatever has happened no longer gives you that ability to shut down your computer the way you are use to?

Perform a hard shutdown

When things aren’t working right and you are unable to shutdown the computer normally a hard shutdown should do the trick.

Although it sounds technical and even a but violent, the truth is it is very simple.

Simply (for most computers) hold down the power button for 8 seconds and wait for it to reboot before releasing.

Alternatively you can always pull the power out the back of the computer, wait a minute and then put the power cable back in.

What is a normal shutdown?

A normal shutdown is when you click on your start icon on the bottom left hand corner of your computer and select shutdown or restart.

If you have a Mac, you will click on the apple icon in the top left hand corner and scroll down to
“Shut Down”.

What is rebooting your computer

To boot your computer or reboot it means to either start your computer or restart it. Not too technical really.