Since the Consumer Preview of Windows 8 got released, there have been a lot of complaints from users related to different menu’s and options missing or moved to new locations. For instance, the Shutdown options, which were accessible from the Start Orb in Windows 7, now require you to first open the Settingsmenu of Windows 8 to Shutdown, Restart, Sleep or put your computer in hibernate mode. We still don’t know if this is the final shape that the interface of Windows 8 is going to take, as Microsoft might make some small changes till the final version is released, based on user feedback. Till then, what the users of Windows 8 Consumer Preview can do is use third party apps to get the features not available by default.NPowerTray is an open source application for Windows 8 that adds a shutdown menu to the system tray of the desktop, and allows you to perform all the shutdown functions without having to open the Settingsmenu.

As soon as you start the program, an icon pops up in the system tray. Double-clicking it will directly shutdown your computer without asking for any confirmation. Right-clicking the icon opens up a menu withShutdown, Reboot, Hibernate, Sleep, Lock, Log Off and Special Options buttons available. The Special Options menu further reveals more options, such as Force Shutdown, Force Reboot, Force Hibernate, Force Sleep, Force Log Off etc.

NPowerTray is a portable application and works on both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 8. You can also install this tool in the previous versions of Windows using the link provided on the product page.

Download NPowerTray