Utilizing a built-in feature of the Windows application shortcut you can execute any of these operations with shortcut keys. This feature is mostly forgotten, and has literally been around for decades.
- On an empty area of the Windows desktop, right-click and select New > Shortcut. When the ‘Create Shortcut’ dialog box appears, type shutdown /s /t 0 and press the Next button.
- to restart the computer, use: shutdown /r /t 0
- to hibernate the computer, use: shutdown /h /t 0
- to log-off of the current session, use: logout
- Give the shortcut a name, and then press the Finish button.
- Right-click the new shortcut icon, and select Properties.
- In the Properties window, click in the box next to the Shortcut key. Type in your desired shortcut. For example, press CTRL+ALT+S (or anything else you want, personally I use CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+S to help avoid accidentally shutting down the computer).
- Press the OK button.
Now all you have to do is press the shortcut key you created, and the computer will perform the operation you selected. To delete the keyboard shortcut, open its file properties dialog box click the box next to ‘Shortcut key’, and press the Delete key.
Note: This trick can be used on just about any application shortcut, and in most versions of Windows.