how to shut down instead of sleep?

When I press orb and what looks like a power button my computer sleeps instead of shuts down. How can I change that in vista to actually shut down?

I have gone to "start/control panel/power options/change what the power buttons do" and changed the appropriate tabs but the end result is the same. Any insight would be appreciated.

 

Changing that option will only change what the physical power button does, you can always click on the windows button then push the little arrow next to the sleep button and select shut down.

As far as changing what the function does I'm not sure how to do that as I don't have anything with vista in front of me.

 

woops my bad...

 

When you do change the properties of what the power buttons do, try restarting the computer immediately after you make the change and see if that sets the behavior of the power button correctly.

 

I noticed this, too.

I found that if I changed it there, and also changed it under the Advanced Power Settings under Change Plan Settings that it actually changed.

BTW, I created my own custom power plan and made a conscious choice on each option.

 

"Control Panel - Power Options - Choose what the power buttons do"
will only change the behavior of the Physical power button, not the Start Menu - Shut Down button.

By default, when you click on the Power button in the Start menu in Vista, your system will go to sleep... don't know which idiot in MS thought it was a good idea to set this as default... but anyways...

To change this:
Control Panel - Power Options - Change Plan Settings
(any one of the three will do, preferably the one you are using)

Then "Change advanced power settings"

then you will get something like this, see the red area is where you change your start menu power settings...you have to do this for every power plan you have (in case you change your power plan)...

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Thanks TomTom. Thats what I was looking for. I just believe that what looks like a power button should act like a power button. If I want it to sleep I will close the lid.

 

I like the custmizeability. I rarely shut down my laptop - I either sleep or hibernate, so I have the physical power button set to sleep (lid close does nothing) and the start menu to hibernate. If I want to actually shut down I'll use the little arrow...