Is there such a thing as a timer programme/software for a PC, that allows you to specify a time to shutdown Windows (basically turn off the PC) but also to specify a time to make it boot up?

Like say I wanted to set it to boot up at 5pm everyday - is there a programme I can get (for free ) that will allow me to do this?

 

Ermm not sure mate, why though? does your pc take THAT long that you need to pre-turn it on before you get home

Have you tried doing a google search?

 

Not really - takes about 30secs or so to boot up I guess..... Just wondered really. It would be usefull in order to allow the PC to boot up at somepoint during the day to do a virus scan or whatever, or just to have it sitting n ready when I get in, etc....

The shut down thing would be good as I often leave it on with a playlist in Media Player when I go to bed, and to have a set time for it to power down would be usefull......

 

There is a way to get it to boot up off a phone call, depending on the modem you have in the machine. In the BIOS there should be an option to "wake up on ring". As for shutdown, I'm not sure. Best bet is to google for some software and see what you can find m8.

 

All I can find is programmes for quick shut down and for quick locking the system whilst away - where you can select a time (ie shut down in 1,2,3,4,5hrs etc, or lock in 1,2,3,4mins etc) but can't find anything to do a pre-scheduled boot up.....

Nevermind, was just a thought. Would have been nice to set it to boot up a tad before I get in - I know it only takes 2 mins to boot it up (it actually does take 2 mins for it to boot fully and settle to idle - of course you can use it before the full 2mins, but I like it to load everything it needs to load and then settle to idle - daft maybe)........

 

http://www.programurl.com/smartsleep-auto-shutdown.htm

 

2mins? whats the spec of your pc?

just curious

 

Dell Optiplex
2.8 P4
1.5gb RAM
1x 60gb HDD (main)
1x 80gb HDD (slave)

I do have quite a few apps tho that I want the pc to run at start up tho

 

shut down is easy, no idea about start up.

'shutdown -s' as a command will shut down the computer, then you can use task scheduler or the like to run that command whenever you want

 

All I have been doing is I created a setting in the power settings (when you right click desktop and go to properties > Screen saver > power options) where I set it to "shutdown hard disks after xhrs" and if I leave my PC on to play music when I go to bed, I select that powerscheme.....

Just a "pre-booter" would have been good.......

 

To shutdown:
As above, there is already a shutdown.exe program in Windows.

Next bit is to set it as a scheduled task:
Goto 'Control Panel'
Double click on 'Scheduled Tasks'
Click 'Next'
Click 'Browse'
Goto to your root-drive (commonly c and wind the 'Windows' folder.
Find the 'System32' folder
Find 'shutdown.exe' and double click on it.
Tick the boxes you want to apply (I would assume daily)
Change all the options you want to change for the time etc.
If you log into the PC, then you will need to provide the username and password.
Tick the box to change advanced settings, and click on 'Finish'
A box should appear, and the first tab name should be 'Task'
At the top, there should be a textbox with the word 'Run:' next to it. Next to that should be the path of shutdown.exe.
Add to the path " -s" (including the space). So mine looks like this: "C:\WINDOWS\system32\shutdown.exe -s"
Click 'Ok' when your done.

That should be it

If you want to test it, when in 'Scheduled Tasks', right click on the shutdown task and click on 'Run'. This will force run the task, so it should work straight away regardless of the time and date.

Note - To cancel the shutdown timer, click on 'Start' > 'Run'
Type in cmd in the box.
Then type shutdown -a
That will abort the shutdown task.


AFAIK the only way I have seen to start up a PC on its own is to use Wake On Lan. This is when you run a little program that forces a PC (on a network) to startup.