I'm a previous user of both win 3.1 and win95; now using win me.  In
either or both of my prior window experiences there was a "quick
stroke" facility which I have forgotten how to do and I don't find it
documented anywhere.  This is it: In a windows session during which
you have accumulated several programs running in the background and
they are shown as "minimized" on the task bar.  You now wish to turn
off your computer, but before doing so you wish to close out each of
the loaded programs.  In my previous experience, there was a little
known ability with one or two key strokes to close down all the loaded
programs simultaneously, rather than having to click each one closed
seperately.  I have forgotten how I did this.  Is it available with
win me and, if so, how is it done? PS: This solution would also be
helpful to shut down all loaded programs w/o the intent to shut down
the computer, but merely to deload the memory so that the computer can
process more efficiently. Thanks, jroho

The freeware utility "EndItAll" may be of interest to you:

http://home.ptd.net/~don5408/toolbox/enditall/

EndItAll runs under Windows ME, according to this review:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,26639,00.asp

Thanks for the "heads-up". jroho

I think you may be looking for Alt+F4. Hold down the Alt key and hit
F4 once for every program you want to shut down, including Windows.

ALT-F4 works well enough for me. in fact this shortcut also brings up
the shutdown menu.

warm regards
vinods-ga