There has been alot of discussion on the C/C++ boards, as well as this one, about how to restart the system (or shutdown).

I posted this code in response to a thread on the C++ board, but not everybody cross reads posts so I think I'll post it here -

The following is a simple program that opens a dialog and gives you a few seconds before the system shuts down. The code can be edited to abort shutdown within the time allowed, the code of which can be found here

Code:
#include "stdafx.h"
#include "windows.h"

BOOL fResult;

HANDLE hToken;              // handle to process token 
TOKEN_PRIVILEGES tkp;       // pointer to token structure 


int APIENTRY WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance,
                     HINSTANCE hPrevInstance,
                     LPSTR     lpCmdLine,
                     int       nCmdShow)
{

// Get the current process token handle so we can get shutdown 
// privilege. 
 
if (!OpenProcessToken(GetCurrentProcess(), 
        TOKEN_ADJUST_PRIVILEGES | TOKEN_QUERY, &hToken)) 
    MessageBox(NULL,NULL,"OpenProcessToken failed.", MB_OK | MB_ICONINFORMATION); 
 
// Get the LUID for shutdown privilege. 
 
LookupPrivilegeValue(NULL, SE_SHUTDOWN_NAME, 
        &tkp.Privileges[0].Luid); 
 
tkp.PrivilegeCount = 1;  // one privilege to set    
tkp.Privileges[0].Attributes = SE_PRIVILEGE_ENABLED; 
 
// Get shutdown privilege for this process. 
 
AdjustTokenPrivileges(hToken, FALSE, &tkp, 0, 
    (PTOKEN_PRIVILEGES) NULL, 0); 
 
// Cannot test the return value of AdjustTokenPrivileges. 
 
if (GetLastError() != ERROR_SUCCESS) 
    MessageBox(NULL,NULL,"AdjustTokenPrivileges enable failed.",MB_OK | MB_ICONINFORMATION); 
 
// Display the shutdown dialog box and start the time-out countdown. 
 
fResult = InitiateSystemShutdown( 
    NULL,                                  // shut down local computer 
    "Click on the main window and press the Escape key to cancel shutdown.",  // message to user 
    3,                                    // time-out period 
    TRUE,                                 // ask user to close apps 
    TRUE);                                 // reboot after shutdown 
 
if (!fResult) 
{ 
    MessageBox(NULL,NULL,"InitiateSystemShutdown failed.",MB_OK | MB_ICONINFORMATION);
} 
 
// Disable shutdown privilege. 
 
tkp.Privileges[0].Attributes = 0; 
AdjustTokenPrivileges(hToken, FALSE, &tkp, 0, 
        (PTOKEN_PRIVILEGES) NULL, 0); 
 
if (GetLastError() != ERROR_SUCCESS) 
{
    MessageBox(NULL,NULL,"AdjustTokenPrivileges disable failed.",MB_OK | MB_ICONINFORMATION);
} 

return 0;
}
Enjoy. Just don't use this code for evil.