Stop Delayed Shutdown in Ubuntu 9.04

I meant to write up lots of things about using Ubuntu after I installed in on my laptop. Unfortunately (well, fortunately for me), everything worked fine, so I didn’t have anything to write about!

I just upgraded to 9.04 and have had some problems with my computer seeming slow sometimes. I am not sure how to fix the problem. It doesn’t always happen, but sometimes when I am typing, the computer won’t keep up with me. I am thinking about increasing my RAM, but I don’t think that the RAM is the main problem. If I figure out what the problem is, or how to fix it, I will try to report back here.

What I would like to report on today is how to prevent the delayed shutdown that has been introduced in 9.04 (codename Jaunty Jackalope). I guess some people like to have a second chance to decide whether or not they want to turn their computer off, but I kind of like to just say “turn off” and have it do my bidding immediately. I’m a bit of a tyrant that way.

If you, too, want your computer to start shutting down immediately after you issue the command, right click the icon in the top right corner of your screen (where you would usually left click to shut your computer down) and choose “Preferences”. Then, uncheck “Show confirm dialogs for logout, restart, and shutdown”.

Et voila.