First of all thank you to all the people that have esponded to my queries in the past, you have been extremely helpful.

Now for my next question: I am looking for a simple program that loads when Windows xp is started and that shuts down the computer after 30 minutes of activity. No adjustment nothing special just shut down the machine.

If you have a laptop, the power control options allow

setting times for going to sleep,standby, or hybernation

modes after x minutes of inactivity or if you shut the

display lid.

I don't know if this solves your problem, but FWIW

It would suggest a simple Visual Basic program could be

written to hook into these options with a fixed time

from turn on.

Hi, don't know a program, but you can try the following trick in Windows:

I took it from the Woody Windows XP Newsletter (more info at: http://www.woodyswatch.com/index.asp ), for delayed shutdown see second half.

good luck

To create a Quick Restart icon on your desktop:

Right-click on an empty spot on your desktop

Choose New | Shortcut

Where the Wizard says "Type the location of the item" type

shutdown -r -t 0

(that's a zero on the end, and there are spaces between all the entries)

Choose Next

In the box that says "Type a name for this shortcut" give it a name that you like. Personally, I call it "Quick Restart". Choose Finish.

Right-click on the new shortcut and choose Properties. Click the Change Icon button and change the icon to something that'll be hard to miss. You don't want to accidentally click this icon.

To test the icon, make sure no programs are running, then double-click on it.

To make a Quick Shut Down icon, follow the same instructions, but the shortcut command should read:

shutdown -s -t 0

If you find that the icons are working too quickly, you can slow them down a bit by changing the zero on the end of the command. For example, the shortcut

shutdown -r -t 15

Waits for 15 seconds before shutting off the machine. That may make you feel a little better about using these hair-trigger icons.

The -t switch is a "wait time" switch, and the number signifies the number of seconds Windows waits before it exits. If you leave the -t switch off entirely, and drop the number also, Windows goes out at a leisurely 30 seconds.

There's only one way I know to get Windows to call off the shut down - abort the shut down command, as it were. You can create yet another shortcut with the command

shutdown -a

If you start a shut down and change your mind, and you can double-click on that new icon before the number of seconds in the -t switch tick off the clock, WinXP will quit the shut down entirely, and return to normal.

What about: (freeware)

TrueOff - Tool to Shutdown Windows

http://www.dunin.hotmail.ru/

Johann

Hi, don't know a program, but you can try the following trick in Windows:

I took it from the Woody Windows XP Newsletter (more info at: http://www.woodyswatch.com/index.asp ), for delayed shutdown see second half.

good luck

To create a Quick Restart icon on your desktop:

Right-click on an empty spot on your desktop

Choose New | Shortcut

Where the Wizard says "Type the location of the item" type

shutdown -r -t 0

(that's a zero on the end, and there are spaces between all the entries)

Choose Next

In the box that says "Type a name for this shortcut" give it a name that you like. Personally, I call it "Quick Restart". Choose Finish.

Right-click on the new shortcut and choose Properties. Click the Change Icon button and change the icon to something that'll be hard to miss. You don't want to accidentally click this icon.

To test the icon, make sure no programs are running, then double-click on it.

To make a Quick Shut Down icon, follow the same instructions, but the shortcut command should read:

shutdown -s -t 0

If you find that the icons are working too quickly, you can slow them down a bit by changing the zero on the end of the command. For example, the shortcut

shutdown -r -t 15

Waits for 15 seconds before shutting off the machine. That may make you feel a little better about using these hair-trigger icons.

The -t switch is a "wait time" switch, and the number signifies the number of seconds Windows waits before it exits. If you leave the -t switch off entirely, and drop the number also, Windows goes out at a leisurely 30 seconds.

There's only one way I know to get Windows to call off the shut down - abort the shut down command, as it were. You can create yet another shortcut with the command

shutdown -a

If you start a shut down and change your mind, and you can double-click on that new icon before the number of seconds in the -t switch tick off the clock, WinXP will quit the shut down entirely, and return to normal.

use this command line tool.

Put it in a batch file called auto.bat for example.

Put the batch file in the startup folder of windows.

When it starts it will countdown to the amount you specified in your time parameter.

Thanks! I now have the situation under control.