ShutDown Wizard

Chances are you fall asleep every night while watching a series or a movie, missing the whole point. But the storyline isn’t really the problem here, but rather that the computer stays up all night, using power for no actual reason. Luckily, you can rely on specialized applications like ShutDown Wizard to solve these kinds of issues.

A setup process is required first so the application integrates into your system and is able to properly read and trigger all necessary functions. The configuration window is brought up as soon as you launch the program, and it stays minimized to the tray area, at least until your computer shuts down since this is the core purpose here.

The configuration window is pretty well organized, with a couple of sections which let you easily pick the preferred action, as well as time settings. Needless to say that the action represents one of several available power options, while time needs to be configured just so the PC doesn’t shut down while you’re still performing some tasks.

As far as the set of available actions are concerned, the list isn’t really abundant, with the only options to log off the current user, restart the PC, and shutdown. You can have all running programs forcefully closed without warning so that you’re sure the action is taken when the time comes.

On the other hand, time specifications are a bit more comfortable and clear. There are two modes of approach, namely to countdown from a specific value, or to trigger the selected action at a fixed time. Values you need to configure represent hours, minutes, and seconds, while the clock is in a 24 hour format.

In conclusion, ShutDown Wizard is a pretty straightforward application you can use to rest assured that the computer turns off and doesn’t just consume power for no reason. It could have used a few advanced functions, like a warning time to be able to cancel if necessary, or more power options, such as sleep, or hibernate.