KShutDown Review

very good
key review info
application features
  • Turn Off Computer (logout and halt the system)
  • (6 more, see all...)

Shutting down a computer is one of the easiest tasks one can perform. However, finding a reliable program that will shut down your computer at a selected time could be a little bit harder. Take for example a misfortune Linux users come across quite often: compiling huge programs from sources. And the time needed to finish compiling increases substantially if you have a slow CPU. So what do you do? You either leave your computer running over night or you check on it once in a while to see if it's done so you can shut it down. OR, you can use an advanced shutdown utility, set it to shut your computer down when the compilation is complete, go to bed and sleep happily till morning.

KShutDown is an advanced shutdown utility for KDE which comes in handy when your computer needs another couple of hours to finish doing something but you really can't sit around and wait. It's very simple to use but also comes with a few other functions a little more advanced. It can turn off your computer, restart it, lock the screen or end current session. You'll probably think "Hmm? this program probably executes shutdown -h now ? and I'm using KDE? not good". Yes, I know. shutdown -h now is way too rude for KDE but fortunately, KShutDown uses (by default) the KDE Desktop Manager for shutting down and rebooting. This way, the shutdown process will start with logout, saving all KDE modifications. Sweet.

Moreover, it offers additional functions such as stopping a media player or killing a PPP/PPPoE connection. If you think about it, KShutDown also comes in handy when you're leaving your computer over night to complete a huge download. And that's not all. It offers support for command line and DCOP (Desktop COmmunication Protocol) so you can use it to schedule a custom command at a certain hour when you won't be around the computer. There's also a system tray icon and visual/audio notifications when a task is near its schedule time.

The basic actions (turn off computer, restart computer, lock session and end current session) can be configured to use one of the 3 methods available. The first method is KDE, which will use KDM to complete the scheduled tasks, the second method is forcing the shutdown/restart/screensaver command (shutdown -h now, reboot and xscreensaver-command -lock). Using this method is not recommended and should it be used when there are no other alternatives. Finally, the third method allows the user to run a custom command. For all three methods, there's the possibility to run a custom command before the action.

You can set what method to be used, as well as a few other options from the settings window which can be found by following the menu settings / configure KShutDown. From the same settings window, in the General section, you can create a link (shortcut) on the Desktop or in the KMenu, remove the links and configure when the system tray icon to show (always, if active or never). From the Messages section you can configure KShutDown to display a warning message before the action and also set a custom message. From the last section, Advanced, you can set KShutDown to lock the screen after login and close the cd-rom tray before logout. The visual and audio notifications can be configured from the notification settings found under the same settings menu.

You can download KShutDown from SOFTPEDIA.

The Good

KShutDown is an advanced shutdown utility and can also be called a command scheduler. It can turn off, restart, lock the screen or end the current session by using KDM, specific Linux commands or a custom command set by the user. This application can also be used for additional scheduled tasks such as stopping a media player or killing a PPP/PPPoE link. It has a lot of visual and audio notification that can be configured and also offers a system tray icon for quick access.

The Bad

KShutDown is an advanced shutdown utility which does its job very well and then some. However, it would be nice if it also supported GDM.

The Truth

Overall, I was pretty impressed by this application. If you're one of those guys that leave their computers running day and night for no apparent reason, you should definitely give KShutDown a try. And I guess there's no need for me to remind you how important power saving can be for the environment.

Check out some screenshots below:

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user interface 5
features 5
ease of use 4
pricing / value 5


final rating 4
Editor's review
very good
 
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