HOW TO SCHEDULE COMPUTER TO SHUTDOWN

If you normally like to power off your PC when you’re not using it, do you ever forget and leave it on? Here’s how to configure Windows to automatically power down at night, but only if you’re not using the PC at the time.

To accomplish this, we’ll setup a Task Scheduler job & a software that tells the computer to shut down, and make sure to configure the rules so that it doesn’t kick in if you are up late using the PC.

USING TASK BAR:

IN WINDOWS 7:

If using Windows 7, follow these steps to schedule your PC(Personal Computer) to shut down at a certain time at night:

• Go to Start > Control Panel > System and Security > Administrative Tools and click on the Task Scheduler.

• From the Action menu in Task Scheduler, click "Create Basic Task..."

• In the "Create Basic Task Wizard" windows that pops up, Type in a title and a description. Something basic like "PC Shutdown."

•  Click "Next." 

• On the "Task Trigger" screen, choose the frequency with which you want the Shutdown PC to run. For nightly shutdown, click on "daily" and click the Next" button.

• On the "Daily" screen, enter the date and time you want your PC to shutdown. Click "Next."

•  On the "Action" screen, choose "Start a program" and click "Next."

• On the "Start a Program" screen, type C:\Windows\System32\shutdown.exe in the "Program/script" text field. 

• In the Add arguments text field type /s.

• Click "Next."

• Confirm your settings on the Summary screen and click "Finish."

Now your Windows 7 computer will automatically shutdown at the same time every day/night.

IN WINDOWS XP:

If using Windows XP, follow these steps to schedule your PC

• Click Start, Run and type control schedtasks

• Double-click Add Scheduled Task. The Scheduled Task Wizard starts.

• Click Next. 

• Under Click the program you want Windows to run, click Browse. 

• In the Select Program to Schedule dialog box, locate the %SystemRoot%\System32 folder, locate and click the Shutdown.exe file, and then click Open.

• Under Perform this task, specify a name for the task and how frequently you want this task to run, and then click Next.

• Under Select the time and day you want this task to start, specify a start time and date for the task, and then click Next.

• Type the user name and password to run this task under, and then click Next.

• Click to select the Open advanced properties for this task when I click Finish check box, and then click Finish.

• Click the Task tab. In the Run box, specify any additional parameters that you want to use with Shutdown.exe. Click OK.

Important: In the 10th step, you need to add the parameters for the Shutdown.exe command. To immediately shutdown the system (0 second timeout), the command-line would be:

shutdown.exe -s -t 00

To reboot the system immediately, this command:

shutdown.exe -r -t 00

USING SOFTWARE'S:

PSHUTDOWN:

PShutDown is a handy command-line utility similar to the shutdown utility from the Windows 2000 Resource Kit. But this open source tool is specially designed to do something extra. It lets you initiate a shutdown of the local or a remote computer, logoff a user, lock a system, or to abort an imminent shutdown. Suppose at your home you have a download running on your system, and you may have to leave for the office. In this situation you can’t leave the system on for the whole day. Your computer might face unexpected power surge and there will be consumption of unnecessary electricity. In this very situation, PShutDown comes as an useful tool. With this utility you can schedule a shutdown time for your system.

PShutDown can be used also to schedule your computer to reboot, display reminders, switch off the monitor, log off the system, run an alarm, and so on. This tool has the ability to logoff the console user or lock the console. To get started with PShutDown, simply select a task (reboot), select a time frame, and click on Start. After that you’ll find a countdown bar at the bottom of the app. The schedule task will be initiated, when the progress completes 100%. You can hit the Pause button, if you want to stop the count down.

When you hit the Do It button, you can instantly perform any selected task. PShutDown supports a total of 9 Actions including Shutdown Computer, Reboot Computer, Log Off, Sleep, Switch Off Monitor, Run Program, Run Alarm, Show Message, and Choose Plugin. This freeware is compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7, and sizes just 202 KB.

PC SHUTDOWN TIMER:

PC ShutDown Timer is a small application that can help you schedule computer shutdown, hibernate and sleep.

You can set a time for shutdown, reset, hibernate and sleep mode with this small utility.
Pc ShutDown Timer has a notifying system that triggers a beep in the last 10 seconds.

PC AUTO SHUT DOWN:

PC Auto Shutdown offers one of the most important commands for your computer - automatic shutdown. With this tool, you can schedule a shutdown, restart, standby mode, and other computer states.

The user interface of the program consists of a wizard, where you can organize several timers. In the first part you set up one or multiple timers - add a timer title, select shutdown action, time (in hours and minutes), and activate it once, daily, on week days, or once a week, but you can also edit or delete these tasks.

In the following step, the program requires you to configure the countdown duration time before a shutdown event is activated, enable/disable the display of the system tray icon for easy access, as well as the Abort button in countdown window, and prevent users from changing the system time.

Additionally, you can assign hotkeys to shutdown actions (power off, shutdown, reboot, hibernate, suspend, log off), but also enable and select sound to play while the shutdown command is activated (loop sound, adjust volume).

Furthermore, you can clean up some items during the shutdown action - Recycle Bin, Windows temporary files, Internet Explorer (temporary files, cookies, browser history, address bar history) and recent documents list, as well as enable password protection and the logging of shutdown events (view/empty log file).

The program uses a small amount of system resources, but it doesn't come with a help file or more advanced settings. Nevertheless, it is a decent software for shutting down your computer.

And many other.....!!!