14 DAY TRIAL // What do you generally expect from a computer shutdown utility? Let me guess: shutdown your computer at a user defined time, program a reboot/log off/lock and maybe some extra features like executing the command after a process stops or have it turn on the computer by using wake-on-lan. These are generally the basic expectations a user has from a shut down timer.
However, if it comes with some more features it is even better. But the most important feature of such a utility is to be absolutely free. All these pretty much sum up the desired shutdown timer for the average user.
If these are your general expectations, then Slawdog Smart Shutdown LX will definitely make you look at such softwares from a different angle. The application fulfills all of the above mentioned but comes with additional options designed to bring more value to the application.
It is absolutely free and up to now it reached the Alpha 1 state, so there is still work to be done. The interface is as simple as can be; there is nothing interesting about it as it perfectly integrates in Windows Vista shell. The main application window (keep in mind that the majority of such softwares have only one window) is filled with a myriad of options for setting up the software to act according to your desires.
There are several types of triggers present in the application allowing you to set the timers (one time, countdown, scheduled, after defragmentation process or when a process stops). After having decided the trigger, you get to set the action to be performed at the defined time and date. The options for this section are pretty numerous and you can count the regular ones that are fundamental for a shutdown timer (turn off, reboot, hibernate, stand by) as well as more "exotic" ones like hanging up connections, lock/switch user, turn off the monitor, wake on LAN, kill process(es), activate a reminder, run screensaver or reboot Windows shell.
When running these actions, you have to take into consideration that the application is in Alpha 1 stage, so not all of them might work. Thus "hang up connections" had absolutely no effect on my computer and "rebooting shell" worked only half way as after 2 minutes, the shell still did not restart but the current user's Documents folder was opened instead.
I hope there is no need to tell you how to initiate the action to take place at the defined trigger as the "Activate" button is visible enough. However, should you decide that the action must no longer take place, there is nothing hinting towards stopping it. In this case, the same "Activate" button will do the trick, only it forgets to change to Deactivate state.
"Smart Shutdown" and "Profiles" are not implemented yet in the interface so there is nothing to tell about what they are supposed to do. The Help menu is yet unavailable so you will have to walk blindfolded through the software and guess what exactly the less obvious features do.
Every action has a set of parameters to be set and through these, it can be customized one way or another. Shutdown, LogOff and Reboot all share the same set of options: "forced execution" and "automatically close 'End Task' dialogs". These will accelerate the action and force the applications to close when they decide to hang a while.
Reminder tab allows you to type in the reminding text and to define the path to a sound file to be played. Looping the audio is one alternative and you can also choose it to be automatically closed after some time. The funny thing is that the time can be set to seconds, minutes and hours (nothing unusual) and days. Now this is something I expect feedback from you. Can it really play the sound for several days? According to the test tool embedded, it seems that it is possible for the application to do this. At least I know that it can loop the sound for half an hour (that is the longest I could stand the same sound).
Setting up a time to kill a certain process proved to be an easy task as the properties window allows you to choose which process you want to terminate. The list in the downside of the window displays all the currently running processes and you can add as many as you want from there. To be certain that there will not be any unpleasant surprises you can test the efficiency of the software.
Wake-on-LAN option is quite handy as it permits you to turn on a computer in your network (provided that it has wake-on-LAN activated). All you have to do is provide the local IP address and the application will provide the MAC address of the computer when you hit "Lookup" button.
The list of options incorporated in Slawdog Smart Shutdown continues in System Tweaks, under Settings menu. The choices here are not numerous but they can be of real help as you can set the application to automatically delete Windows paging file at shutdown. Additionally, you can configure the application to display status messages at startup, shutdown, log on and log off. For a faster effect of the scheduled action you can set a timeout duration for the "End Task" dialog in seconds.
The last area on the agenda is Global Options, a section that permits you to generally configure the software. The elements available cover Trigger and Startup, Shortcuts definition, Appearance and Profiles (these are not implemented yet, so there will be no effect).
It seems that the software can be configured to preserve trigger activation even if the computer time is messed up and the trigger can be automatically reactivated. Maybe when the software will come into the final stage of development will be equipped with a splash screen as now the option enabling it at startup is totally useless.
The plain white of the interface may seem a bit too little for such a nifty application so the developer allowed the user to change the background to any other color as well as overlaying a tiled image on the interface. The way the program appears and disappears from the screen can be controlled as the animation options (fade, slide and roll) and direction are configurable. To make the software even niftier you can set a transparency level for all the application windows. The lowest level is 50% and all you need to do is drag the slider to the left. A preview at the new looks is instantaneous so you can decide to keep the settings or not before applying them.
The Good
Slawdog Smart Shutdown comes with a myriad of options and configuration possibilities and in the end it will leave you the right impression that it is more than a mere shutdown timer.
Appearance customization, wake-on-LAN, reminder, trigger manipulation, scheduled process killing, these are more than any other shutdown timer could handle. And all these in less than 400KB.
The Bad
I won't say anything in this section as it would be tabbed into the Alpha 1 account. I will keep my nasty comments for the final version of the software.
The Truth
I really hope that the final version will rise up to the standards imposed by this version. The options put on display are more than appealing as it is unlike anything similar.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
