Shutting Down
Unlike Windows systems, it is unnecessary and usually undesirable to continually shut down and reboot, unless you have a dual-boot computer. You can run your Linux system for as long as you like. Even after you install new software, there is no need to reboot.
If you do want to reboot, never just turn off your computer or hit the reset button. This can cause data corruption. If you are forced to turn off the computer or you lose power, you might have to run a program called fsck to restore your filesystem. You will learn more about fsck in Hour 16, "Administering the System."
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To shut down and power down the computer, enter the following command:
# halt
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To shutdown and reboot, enter:
# shutdown -r now
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In Red Hat Linux, you can also press the Ctrl+Alt+Del combination, which invokes the shutdown -r now command.
By default in Red Hat Linux 7.0, you do not have to be root to shut down. There are steps you can take, however, to prevent ordinary users from shutting down (see Hour 16).