If you’re using Windows 7 or Vista, you can change the power buttons to shut down/sleep/hibernate mode. To do this, open the Start menu and type “powercfg”. Then click on the “Options” tab and select “Shutdown/sleep/hibernate”.
Change Windows 7 Shutdown Button
Windows 7 makes it really easy – just head into the Start Menu / Taskbar preferences by right-clicking on the start menu and choosing Properties.
All you need to do is change the drop-down for Power Button Action to whatever you would prefer.
Change Windows Vista Power Buttons You can configure this setting easily by using the advanced power settings panel, which is a little tricky to get to normally, but we’ll take the shortcut.
Open a command prompt (type cmd into the start menu search bar), and then type in the following:
You could also take the long route (Control Panel \ Power Options \ Change Plan Settings \ Change Advanced Power Settings)
Once you get to this dialog, browse down as shown to “Power buttons and lid”
From here, you can change the options:
Power button action – Changes the hardware power button action Start menu power button – Changes the power button on the Start Menu
You can change the power button to either Sleep, Hibernate or Shut Down, or even nothing for the hardware power button.
