Shutting Down Is Not Shutting Down

I’ve run into an issue a couple of times recently related to modern Windows Shut Down versus Restart commands. Going to the Start Menu > Power > Shut Down does not perform a complete shutdown by default, it saves the state of some Windows components/drivers and reloads them in the same state when the computer is started back up. There are a couple of ways of subverting this if you regularly shut down your computer, namely holding the Shift key when you press Shut Down or by disabling Fast Startup. Believe it or not, disabling fast startup may slow down your computer startup, so if you opt for this route, just keep that in mind.

Counterintuitively, going to Start Menu > Power > Restart does not carry the same baggage as the Shut Down command. Fast startup does not apply to it, so from a troubleshooting standpoint, the Restart command will be more impactful.

That’s it! Kudos to you for practicing good tech hygiene by shutting down your computer for the day, and just considering restarting it occasionally or getting rid of fast startup if you want to avoid problems down the line.