TIMER SHUTDOWN

Here’s a useful tip if you want to make sure your children switch the PC off at a particular time, or even limit your own usage to prompt you to go home/get to bed at a reasonable hour. XP has a built-in utility called Shutdown that can be programmed to switch the PC off after a predetermined delay. To use Shutdown go to Run on the Start menu and type ‘cmd’ (without the quotes) and this will bring up a DOS type window. Now type the following command: ‘shutdown.exe –s –t xx’, where –s is the shutdown ‘switch’, -t is the time switch and xx is the delay in seconds. So, if you want the PC to shutdown in 15 minutes, say, the command would be: ‘shutdown.exe –s –t 900’. When the Enter is pressed the countdown begins, with a dialogue box on the screen showing the time left and warning the user to save their work. For a full list of the switches available for this utility just type shutdown.exe at the command prompt.