Shutting down OpenLinux Getting Started Guide 69 Shutting down OpenLinux Because Linux keeps many things in memory to speed operation, you can’t turn off the power to your Linux computer without instructing Linux to halt or shut- down so that it finishes any work that it is doing, such as finishing writing files to the hard disk, updating log files, and so forth. CAUTION: If you simply turn your computer off without using a shut down procedure, you risk damaging files on your Linux system. To shut down OpenLinux from a graphical login screen: 1. At the graphical login prompt, choose the Shutdown button. A dialog box of options appears. 2. Select Shutdown or Shutdown and Restart. 3. Choose OK. Your computer switches to character mode and begins to shut down pro- grams, stop using file systems, and so forth. 4. When a message appears stating “system halted,” you can switch your computer off. NOTE: You can also start this process from within the KDE Desktop if you have an open terminal emulator window where you can enter commands. As root user, use the com- mand telinit 6 or shutdown -r now. If you are not using the graphical system, you can also shut down OpenLinux using the following steps: To shut down Linux from a console (character mode screen): 1. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del. Messages may fill the screen as Linux halts all the processes that are run- ning and stops using the file systems. NOTE: You can also use the halt command to start this shut- down process. 2. When you see the message “System halted” on your screen, you can turn off the power.