[TomMacs]

In OS 9 and down I remember there being a shutdown folder, where I can put aliases and scripts, but in 10.3 I can no longer find a folder which does this. So pretty much is there another way?

[csyria]

There is no shutdown folder, but there is a solution.
Make an AppleScript theat does whatever the old shutdown folder did and then shuts down. Save it as an Application, and use that whenever you need to shutdown. Not as convienent, but still works.

[JackMac]

Of course part of the reason for this omission is that you are encouraged NOT to shut down a computer running OS X (10.3).

[DPG4450Guy]

Not shut down? What???

[griffman]

Shutting down requires a lot of time, and a fair bit of energy when you re-start the machine. So instead, I just put my machines to sleep. This requires a small amount of electricity, of course, but it's worth it to me for the near-instant access. I follow this routine with both my laptop and my desktop. The only exception is that I will shut down the PowerBook if I know I won't have power for a number of days ... but I haven't gone on a trip like that for a few years.
Other than the energy savings or the above-mentioned long powerless trip /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif, I can't think of a good reason to shut down as a normal part of the process...
-rob.