The latest Windows 11 preview build in the Beta Channel delivers a rather odd change to the Start menu. For some reason, the "Sign out" button is hidden behind a Microsoft 365 ad and other banners.
Is that bad for the computer? Because I didn’t even think about this in a corporate environment until your comment. All our employees would be pulling cords or batteries, they all march out at exactly 430.
Journaling should make sure that the file system itself doesn’t corrupt, but journaling doesn’t magically make all writes atomic. If a program is halfway through writing a file and the power is cut, that file will be corrupt.
As a user. When I want the computer to shut down. I’ve got my programs already closed. I really don’t care if there’s a half open log file or some telemetry isn’t properly recorded. It needs to shut down now.
By default, Linux can take up to 15 seconds to write a file to disk, this is for power saving reasons. You could corrupt the last document/photo you saved, your browser profile, or your nextcloud sync.
Linux usually shuts down immediately if you don’t have any unsaved files and nothing glitches out during shut down. But yeah, windows sucks, corrupt files is probably the least of your problems using Windows.
I guess on Linux, if you run sync to write all cached files to disk, and then pull the cord, you’re probably fine.
I like to think of it like this. When I tell the computer to power down its a fair warning. Just like when a UPS sends the alarm signal. Power is going off, you better get in a good state now.
I want my power button to cut off the power instantly. I want my log off button to be instant. Add any delay and I start pulling cables!!!
I got to go, lock this computer, so I can do a thing! Oh shit, its not locking… fuck… Security says I can’t leave a unlocked console… POWER!
Adding needless friction is terrible! Don’t do it.
At work, when I did desktop support, the number of people who would just hit their power bar when they left every day…
Alpha move right there
Is that bad for the computer? Because I didn’t even think about this in a corporate environment until your comment. All our employees would be pulling cords or batteries, they all march out at exactly 430.
any unwritten data would be lost, perhaps some file system updates get out of sync, but it shouldn’t be a big problem.
It is very easy to corrupt files doing this.
A proper journaling filesystem should handle this, but I hardly trust NTFS as it is.
Journaling should make sure that the file system itself doesn’t corrupt, but journaling doesn’t magically make all writes atomic. If a program is halfway through writing a file and the power is cut, that file will be corrupt.
As a user. When I want the computer to shut down. I’ve got my programs already closed. I really don’t care if there’s a half open log file or some telemetry isn’t properly recorded. It needs to shut down now.
By default, Linux can take up to 15 seconds to write a file to disk, this is for power saving reasons. You could corrupt the last document/photo you saved, your browser profile, or your nextcloud sync.
Linux usually shuts down immediately if you don’t have any unsaved files and nothing glitches out during shut down. But yeah, windows sucks, corrupt files is probably the least of your problems using Windows.
I guess on Linux, if you run
syncto write all cached files to disk, and then pull the cord, you’re probably fine.I like to think of it like this. When I tell the computer to power down its a fair warning. Just like when a UPS sends the alarm signal. Power is going off, you better get in a good state now.
Win+L to immediately lock a windows machine. You can get the logout dialogue with alt+F4