In Windows XP, restoring the shortcut is amazingly easy. Right-click on the Desktop and choose New | Shortcut from the pop-up menu. Browse to the file C:\Windows\ System32\Shutdown.exe, click Next, name the shortcut, and click Finish. Now right-click on the new shortcut and choose Properties. In the Target box, append the command line switch -l (to log off), -s (to shut down), or -r (to reboot).
If you also add the switch –t xx (where xx is a number of seconds), Shutdown.exe will display a warning and count down the specified number of seconds before activating. You can specify a comment to be displayed with the warning by adding the switch -c "Your text". The countdown behavior is particularly useful if the shutdown program is launched through the Scheduled Tasks applet. For example, a library computer might be scheduled to shut down 10 minutes before closing, with a 60-second warning. Once the countdown has begun, the only way to stop it is to launch the program again with the -a (for abort) switch on its command line.
