14 DAY TRIAL // This article is also available in Spanish: Apague su ordenador ingeniosamente Whether you're a movie lover and stay up late to watch them, a passionate downloader that wants to be up to date with the latest software, games, movies etc. or a computer freak who won't leave his PC until falling asleep, a shutdown timer could become your best friend.
This segment of software is full of all kinds of simple or complex programs that allow you to shutdown your PC depending on various situations in order to suit your every need. Among them we found Shutdown Timer, a handy utility that can help you schedule when your computer should Shutdown, Restart, LogOff, Lock, Hibernate or StandBy in various ways and hassle free.
The application is catalogued as ad-supported because of the advertisement in the About window, but that surely won't bother anyone since it will not interfere with its main functions and features. Besides that, you can use it for free as long as you want without any time restrictions or limitations.
The first thing you will notice at Shutdown Timer is its slick and smooth interface with easy-to-use menus and windows, designed having the average Joe in mind. From the main screen of the program, you can access various methods of performing the selected task, all turned on by the big Activate button on the left.
First of all, you need to select the action you want to perform: Shutdown, Restart, LogOff, Lock, Hibernate, StandBy or Screen-StandBy from the upper right corner of the main window. After this is done, you can go to the scheduling part to setup the way you like to complete the selected action, and Shutdown Timer comes with many options to help you do just that.
From the Options window, you can schedule a task by Time or Date. Here you can choose to shutdown your computer at a specific time or, if you need to perform this action at a later date, select it from a calendar-like window. If you want to force the selected task, you should tick the checkbox named Immediately for a quick effect.
The app permits scheduling a task according to CPU usage or CPU temperature. This can be achieved from the CPU Options window. You won't have any trouble with CPU usage as things are as simple as they can be, but CPU Temperature Shutdown Timer requires an external tool that can read the heat level on the processing unit, called Core Temp.
Configuring Shutdown Timer can be easily done from the Preferences window which includes the option to use Core Temp so that it reads the temperature and triggers the desired action. This can come in handy especially on laptops when the temperature can rise above the safe level and cause damage to hardware components.
From the Memory Options window, you can schedule to shutdown your computer according to your available memory. You can manually enter the amount of memory that will trigger the selected action. You can also set the conversion rate for 1GB of RAM for an accurate monitoring.
Last but not least, Shutdown Timer allows you to schedule a task by network traffic which could turn out to be really useful when you are downloading big files and want to shutdown your computer once the task completes. This can be easily done first of all by selecting your network adapter, then setting up the download / upload speed you wish to trigger the event.
Just press the Activate button and the program will start to perform the selected task. If you want to view only the countdown timer, you can use the Show Only Timer option bellow the monitoring panel.
From the Preferences window, you will be able to setup the general options of Shutdown Timer. You can choose to make the main window transparent, be notified with 30 seconds before the action will take place and setup Core Temp to work with Shutdown Timer.
The software will offer you many possibilities to Shutdown, Restart, LogOff, Lock, Hibernate or put your computer in StandBy, all packed in a simple and easy-to-use interface. The many options it offers will surely satisfy your every need and will make Shutdown Timer an indispensable tool for your PC.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
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