Usually, whenever a new feature comes out for Windows, Microsoft advertises it widely in a blog post to let everyone know. Or if they don’t, people discover the feature soon after an update. However, a helpful feature sometimes slips through the cracks, only to be unearthed years later.
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That was my reaction when I found this obscure Emergency Restart method for Windows 11 after stumbling across a post on the Sysadmin subreddit. Reddit user ‘-Steets-‘ shared the information in 2022, although other comments claim the method was present on Windows XP, which came out over 20 years ago.
To access Emergency Restart, press the CTRL + ALT + DEL keys on your Windows PC — a pretty normal action. However, this time, hold down the CTRL key and click the power button in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
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This action leads to a message on screen stating that you’re attempting an Emergency Restart, adding “Click OK to immediately restart. Any unsaved data will be lost.” The statement concludes, “Use this only as a last resort.” Click “OK”, and your computer will turn off and back on as normal.
You might wonder about the difference between this emergency method and a regular restart. The answer goes back to the final term — “last resort”. As BetaNews explained in 2023, the method is “an alternative to a hard reset.” The technique is the closest thing to holding down the on/off button on your PC without having to press it.
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This emergency restart is useful when your computer may have frozen to the point where nothing goes through, and it doesn’t respond to anything other than CTRL + ALT + DEL. The method is also helpful on laptops lacking a physical power button.
There aren’t any drawbacks to using Emergency Restart. I did it on my desktop and multiple laptops – everything was fine. Again, this method is a last-ditch effort for certain situations, although nothing stops you from using it as often as you want.
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If you want another method, launch the Command Prompt and type “shutdown /r” to restart your machine. Instructions for other shutdown methods can be found on Microsoft’s Learn website.
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Source: Robotics - zdnet.com
