While I’m not trying to sound boastful here, I consider myself extremely technically proficient. I’ve been playing with computers for, literally, as long as I can remember. I was lucky enough to have a computer of my very own by the time I was in middle school, and even started on Linux about that same time. Since then I’ve used hundreds if not thousands of computers in every shape, color, size, and flavor. I’ve been a professional IT Manager for nearly 10 years now. I’ve used basically every major operating system and variation thereof that there is to offer. I was even sent to z/OS school at IBM in Dallas. I’m not sharing this to brag, but so you can properly put this next comment into context: I couldn’t figure out how to shut down Windows 8.
A few days ago I was asked for a clean virtual machine image of Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 to be used inside the office. Since I hadn’t had a chance to play with Windows 8 at all, I figured this would be a great chance to install it and play with it for a little bit. I had heard (and seen screen shots) about the new “metro” interface, but I hadn’t seen it in action (beyond the Xbox, which doesn’t count). The process of installing Win8 was much like Windows 7, so it didn’t take but a few minutes.
Once the VM was up and running, I spent a few minutes getting lost on my way to figuring out how to run Windows Update. I like to throw myself into new machines and attempt to get real work done, as a way of learning how things work. Getting Windows Update done wasn’t a big deal. So at this point I needed to shutdown the virtual machine cleanly (i.e. inside the OS, not via VM Controls) to capture that nice factory-fresh image. And… then it all went downhill.
I spent what felt like 15 minutes clicking on damn near everything I could think of in order to find the shutdown option. I got very frustrated, very fast, because shutting down a computer should not be very hard. I’ve never had trouble like this before, it’s something you can intuit in most operating systems (Hell, in linux you can guess that typing the command “shutdown” is probably a good start). After 15ish frustrating minutes, I gave up and had to Google “How to shutdown windows 8”. Sadly, there are 48 million hits for this on Google.
How to Shutdown Windows 8
- Mouse over the minus button in the bottom right corner, but DO NOT click
- After a second, a popup menu should show on the right of the screen
- Click Settings
- Click Shutdown
Microsoft, after turning on your computer, the next most common function is to turn OFF your computer. This should not be hard in the least bit. Whomever was in charge of the UX/UI design of Metro should be taken out back behind the Redmond HQ and shot. Also, anyone involved with the approval process of Windows 8, including Steve Balmer, should be taken out back behind HQ and shot also.*
Welcome to Windows VistaME 8
Disclaimer: The staff of Snowulf.com and its affiliates in no way advocates the actual shooting of Microsoft personnel, regardless of how poorly they design things.