Did you know the power button can actually be used to turn the computer off? You can control the specific action of your power button – Control Panel – Power Options – Advanced settings. The default is to shutdown your computer. You can also select “sleep” mode, “ask me” or “do nothing”. You are probably best off to leave it at shutdown, but it is nice to have options.
Laptops are a different monster. My laptop has three different advanced power settings – Power Button – Hibernate Button – Close Lid. I have modified my “close lid” option. I tend to close my computer while I wait for the computer to do something. By default, closing the lid puts the computer to sleep. Because of this, I always change the setting to “do nothing” when the lid is closed.
Five Second Rule – If you have ever crashed your computer beyond recovery, you can always hold down the power button for five seconds. This will turn off the power, no matter how you have those settings in the control panel.
TSPY=0.12