You can shutdown restart and do many other similar tasks using the Windows Command Prompt. This will come to use many a times if you are using batch files a lot. And would like to automate some Windows tasks.

Go to Command Prompt (Start»All Programs»Accessories»Command Prompt ). In the command prompt type shutdown /? this brings the Help for shutdown command in windows. Here are the most frequently used ones

1. shutdown /? This displays the help for the shutdown command.
2. shutdown -s this command will SHUTDOWN the system.
3. shutdown -r This command RESTARTs the system.
4. shutdown -a This command aborts (cancel) any shutdown process in progress including those initiated by your system administrator.

This is a quick reference to most frequently used parameters for shutdown command.

Allows you to shut down or restart a local or remote computer. Used without parameters, shutdown will logoff the current user.
Syntax :
shutdown [{-l|-s|-r|-a}] [-f] [-m [\\ComputerName] [-t xx] [-c message] [-d[p]:xx:yy]Parameters
-l : Logs off the current user, this is also the default.
-m : ComputerName takes precedence.
-s : Shuts down the local computer.
-r : Reboots after shutdown.
-a : Aborts shutdown. Ignores other parameters, except -l and ComputerName. You can only use -a during the time-out period.
-f : Forces running applications to close.
-m [\\ComputerName] : Specifies the computer that you want to shut down.
-t xx : Sets the timer for system shutdown in xx seconds. The default is 20 seconds.
-c message : Specifies a message to be displayed in the Message area of the System Shutdown window. You can use a maximum of 127 characters. You must enclose the message in quotation marks.
-d [p]:xx:yy : Lists the reason code for the shutdown. The following table lists the different values.
Value Description
u - Indicates a user code.
p - Indicates a planned shutdown code.
xx - Specifies the major reason code (0-255).
yy - Specifies the minor reason code (0-65536).

All this can also be done from the run window.