14 DAY TRIAL // Most of us rely on this kind of applications even for simple tasks like locking your workstation at a specific hour. Whether you like a shutdown scheduler filled with all kinds of triggers and features or just a simple timer made specifically for the job, Simple Shutdown Scheduler might be the tool you need.
Scheduling computer actions might prove to be very useful for people who download large files overnight or just want to relax, listening some music without having to worry they’ll fall asleep with the computer running.
Simple Shutdown Scheduler is distributed under the GPL license which means you can use it for free for as long as you want, without any restrictions. Also, this license allows you to use and modify the source code as you need or even use it as part of your projects if you provide the proper credentials.
The app has a simple and comprehensive interface that provides quick access to all its features. Occupying only a small amount of space on your hard drive, approximately 1.67 MB, you will never feel it’s there.
The main window contains two tabs where you will find the tools you need to setup your scenarios. All the planned actions can be easily viewed in the General tab, but we’ll come back to this later, after we present the scenario creation mechanism.
Scenarios are the actions that your computer will perform according to a selected trigger. At the moment, Simple Shutdown Scheduler supports Restart, Shutdown, Power Off, Sleep, Log Off, Lock and Start program. For a future version the addition of Hibernate will be of good use and it could complete the scenario list.
The application doesn’t offer too many options regarding the triggers for the selected scenario, as you may choose only from Date&Time and Countdown actions. The first one allows you to schedule your action to run only once or on a daily, weekly or monthly basis at the desired date and time.
The later gives you the possibility to setup a countdown until the selected scenario will be performed. The countdown can be adjusted with as much as 23:59:59 (h:m:s) before starting the desired action.
A lot of improvements can be done in this area, as developers might add other triggers like CPU and RAM usage, network traffic or process behavior to give users all the means necessary to perform the desired scenario.
If you’re part of a network and you want to perform an action on a specific computer, with Simple Shutdown Scheduler you can easily enter the PC name, user name and password, choose the desired scenario and the application will automatically complete it. To activate this option one must activate the Remote action checkbox.
You have to keep in mind that only Restart, Shutdown, Power Off, Log Off and Start Program options can be used with the remote action method (the Lock and Sleep actions are not yet supported). The bottom table from the scenarios tab will display the error messages that you might get if a remote task could not be completed.
You can force the activation of a scenario by using the Force checkbox. If you want to perform a task only once and then remove it from the scenario list the Auto remove scenario checkbox will help you with that.
During our tests we’ve noticed Simple Shutdown Scheduler does not enable you to edit tasks that are already scheduled. A rather annoying problem when your only solution is to delete the task and create a new one that suits your needs.
The only way to delete a scheduled scenario is using the Delete key on your keyboard, no right click menu or option to simplify the action. An odd thing we've discovered is the fact that when you try to delete a random scenario from your list, the program will always delete the topmost scenario regardless of the one you choose.
So, if you have many scenarios scheduled and you need to delete one from the bottom of your list, I’m afraid it can’t be done without erasing all previous scenarios.
Besides scheduled scenarios, immediate actions can also be performed. As in the case of scenario scheduling, the same actions can be performed right away without any planning. The tray menu can come in handy in this case, providing you quick shortcuts to the desired actions.
If you’re not looking for a complex application to schedule when your computer should shutdown, restart, sleep, lock, power off or log off, Simple Shutdown Scheduler might satisfy your needs.
It also enables you to perform these actions on a remote computer without installing additional software. Scheduling can be made on a daily, weekly or monthly basis or as a simple countdown. The addition of Hibernate to the action list can bring a plus to its usability. Also, adding more triggers (CPU and RAM usage, network traffic or process behavior) to scenario scheduling can add up to its value. The developers need to concentrate more on solving the actual bugs that can become rather annoying. Also, the addition of some new features might improve its usability and value at the same time. Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
The Good
The Bad
The Truth
