Auto PC Shutdown

B

Bishoop

I'm looking for a utility that will automatically shutdown (power off) WinXP
Pro after a user specified period of time of no keyboard or mouse activity.

I'm tired of the SO's laptop running without use for hours on end. The darn
thing sucks in dust and plugs the cooling fan and heatsinks. I've had to
take it apart once to clean out the gunk. Laptops are no fun to disassemble
and re-assemble.

Any suggestions? Asking politely to have it shut down manually when not it
use just doesn't work. I know, get a new SO.

Thanks for any suggestions.
 
M

Meinolf Weber

Hello Bishoop,

Even if you found a way to do it, how will you solve the problem with open
files from the user where they are working on? If you just shut down the
machines they maybe loose the complete documents, presentations or more important
data from customers.

Best regards

Meinolf Weber
Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers
no rights.
** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
** HELP us help YOU!!! http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm
 
N

Nepatsfan

Bishoop said:
I'm looking for a utility that will automatically shutdown (power off) WinXP
Pro after a user specified period of time of no keyboard or mouse activity.

I'm tired of the SO's laptop running without use for hours on end. The darn
thing sucks in dust and plugs the cooling fan and heatsinks. I've had to take
it apart once to clean out the gunk. Laptops are no fun to disassemble and
re-assemble.

Any suggestions? Asking politely to have it shut down manually when not it
use just doesn't work. I know, get a new SO.

Thanks for any suggestions.


Go to Control Panel -> Power Options and click on the Hibernate tab.
Enable Hibernation.
Click on the Power Schemes tab.
Next to System hibernates, select the delay you want.
Configure the other options as you see fit.
Once you're finished hit the Save as button and give your new power scheme a
name.
Click OK.

Note: You might want to check the properties sheet of the laptop network card to
see if there's a setting enabled which could interfere with your power scheme.

Right click My Computer and select Manage from the menu.
In Computer Management, click on Device Manager.
In the right hand pane, click on the + sign next to Network adapters.
Right click on the adapter listed and select Properties from the menu.
In the network adapters properties sheet, see if there's a Power Management tab.
If there is, look for a setting similar to "Allow this device to bring the
computer out of standby".
If you find this setting, remove the check mark and click OK.
Do this for any entries under Network Adapters.

Good luck

Nepatsfan
 
C

CurtB

Right click an empty area on the desktop to get to the 'Display Properties"
window. > Select the 'Screen Saver' tab > Click the 'Power' button > Select
the 'Hibernate' tab > Check the 'Enable hibernation' box and click the
'Apply' button > Select 'Power Schemes' tab > Select the desired interval
from the 'System hibernates:' dropdown. This will hibernate the machine,
which provides you what you need. But, it will also allow the machine to be
brought back to it's last used state, which is let's intrusive to the user.
 
A

AlmostBob

Ignorance is bliss, don't spread yours around

ensure bios hibernate is enabled
right click the blank screen
properties
screensaver
power
hibernate


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Grateful thanks to the authors and webmasters
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P

Pegasus \(MVP\)

Bishoop said:
I'm looking for a utility that will automatically shutdown (power off)
WinXP Pro after a user specified period of time of no keyboard or mouse
activity.

I'm tired of the SO's laptop running without use for hours on end. The
darn thing sucks in dust and plugs the cooling fan and heatsinks. I've
had to take it apart once to clean out the gunk. Laptops are no fun to
disassemble and re-assemble.

Any suggestions? Asking politely to have it shut down manually when not
it use just doesn't work. I know, get a new SO.

Thanks for any suggestions.

If you don't mind risking your job for corrupting/losing important
files that are still open at the time of the shutdown then you could
do this:
- Use WMI to monitor the screen saver process.
- If that process is active and if it has been active for more than
2 hours (for example) and if the time is past 8pm (for example)
then shut down the machine.
This requires a bit of programming in VB Script and is probably
not worth the trouble.
 
B

Bishoop

I didn't realize that Hibernate actually powered down the machine. My fault
for not reading about the Hibernate particulars.

Anyway, thanks to those of you that responded.
 
B

Bishoop

Bishoop said:
I didn't realize that Hibernate actually powered down the machine. My
fault for not reading about the Hibernate particulars.

Anyway, thanks to those of you that responded.

Having problems with the laptop and hibernation.

This is a Toshiba laptop and uses Toshiba's "power setup" utility. I set
the Hibernation time for 20 minutes and it works sometimes and not others.

I had Outlook open with the auto check for email set to every 5 minutes. I
thought that was the activity that preventing the 20 minute Hibernate period
from working. I set the email checks to every one hour and it still won't
Hibernate every time.

Are there other things that can be running in the background that would
prevent Hibernation? Any suggestions on what to look for?

Thanks....
 

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