When I view the list of available kernels in the update manager (& there's lots of them) I only have two that are installed 3.19.0-32 this one is recommended but not loaded & the one I am using 4.4.0-45 which is installed & loaded but not listed as recommended.
So my question is as I assume I should be using the recommended (3.19.0-32) if I remove the other one will the system automatically load the recommended one or do I need to do something else first to use it. I'm worried that if I remove the one that is currently being used even though it doesn't say it's recommended I might end up being unable to boot my machine.
Why do you want to do it if the system works I hear you say, well I do have one problem & that's every now & then when shutting down the system hangs & fails to close down, I wondered if it might be because I'm using a kernel that's not recommended.
Thanks guys.......

gillsman,

There is nothing to worry about.

Stick with 4.4.0-45 and update it via update manager when a new one is listed.

I am using LM 18 MATE and I currently use 4.4.0-62.

That's good I'll take your advice & stick with it but I'm still confused as to why it's the older one that's marked as recommended, I also can't understand why if you search for instructions for updating a kernel everyone has you sweating over a hot terminal but no one mentions doing it in the update manager which to me seems so much easier. Just my opinion.
Thanks.......

It's important to observe that the switch is from 3.x to 4.x which is a major-version upgrade. This can mean that there are substantial internal differences between them, e.g. new scheduler algorithms and so on.

The term, "recommended," should be taken loosely. It's a fairly abstract recommendation that may or may not be applicable to your situation. If you are successfully running a 4.x kernel now, I would suggest sticking with it.

Linux distributions have different attitudes to software. Some give you the latest bleeding-edge versions, others give you an older version which is guaranteed to be stable. So "recommended" doesn't necessarily mean that something else is unsafe. This is particularly true of kernels, which don't use any external libraries (not even libc) and therefore are not required to be strictly in-step with the rest of the software.

Whatever is causing your shutdown to hang, it isn't the kernel. It's more likely to be an init problem. You don't say what init system you are using (sysvinit, systemd, or something else). If you're serious about troubleshooting this, that's the first bit of information to give us.

Thanks for all the info, I'm afraid I still have much to learn about Linux, I don't even know what "init" is what is it? & how do I find out what version I have.
Sorry if I am a bit uninformed but some of this is double dutch to me.

There are hundreds of distros out there, each one has versions dating back decades, and each one can be running any one of tens (hundreds?) of desktop environments. All told, there are hundreds of thousands of combinations of distro, version, and DE out there that a user might be running. Command line instructions are nearly universal, almost anyone can use them. They're also completely unambiguous, take very little effort/time to write, and very little effort/time to follow. Conversely, GUI instructions are bloated, inefficient, waste server space (screenshots are big), take forever to follow, take even longer to make, and have to be tailored specifically for the exact distro, version, and DE being used on the target machine, which means that specific set of instructions becomes obsolete and useless after <1 year.

Spend any significant amount of time administering, or more importantly, helping other people to administer their systems, and you'll abandon the GUI very quickly. GUIs are useful when you are FIRST introduced to a new thing, you can fumble around and hunt and peck your way to your goal, but once you know what you're doing they're usually little more than slow and cumbersome obstacles that stand in your way (apart from some notable exceptions...web browsers, etc.).

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I can see what you are getting at & it makes sense however some people want to be able to drive to the shops & don't care about what's going on under the bonnet, same with computers, I just need the convenience of Windows so I can get on with what I want to do but with the enhanced security that Linux offers.
I know this will cause much annoyance with many Linux users but as with the above analogy there are lots of people who don't want to take a course in car mechanics just so they can go out for a drive.

gillsman,

No annoyance from me.

I have installed Linux on the computers of loads of people. They just get on and use them. I don't hear a dickeybird from them.

The only people I hear from and having problems are those using Windows machines.

Oh well thanks for the help beachboy2, my shutdown problem isn't every time so I'll just carry on as normal for now. I did learn something though, when it hangs I found I can type Ctrl/Alt/ PrtScr + REISUB & it reboots, afterwards it seems to shut down ok, that will do me for now.

Init is just the first program that the kernel launches. It then runs scripts or programs that set up everything for the user[s]. The same program is responsible for stopping everything in an orderly manner when you shut down. Until recently, this program was always init, but now it's often another program called systemd.

You can quickly find out what program your init process runs by opening a terminal and typing cat /proc/1/cmdline. Or (as you have said you prefer to work graphically), open your file manager, go to that file and list it.

Or, of course, you can just put up with your shutdown hanging occasionally. Using Linux doesn't mean you have to poke about under the hood. It's just what a lot of us enjoy doing.

Thank you for that Hazel, that gives me better understanding, however I have just taken the plunge & upgraded my system to Mint 18.1 (after backing up of course) I know I didn't necessarily have to but with a fresh system to work on it will have overcome the shutdown problem, I now have to set about installing & re tweaking.
Thanks again.