14 DAY TRIAL // Not Enough Time?
If you're the type of person who likes to keep good tabs on what your computer's up to, its power management or any other aspect about it, Sleep Moon can help you out. It's designed to shutdown the computer at a specified time. It helps if you're in a rush to go out, or can't stick around for that long download. Sleep Moon is a useful tool that can save you the time and effort it usually takes to shut down your machine.
Inside Sleep Moon
I gave a slight chuckle when I saw what the GUI looks like. A window pane that looks like it was brought straight out of a MAC. I had to do a double-take just to make sure I was using a PC. Sleep Moon's interface is made of a small window spit into two parts. The top part gives you the choices of the time, date, and which of the two (shutdown or software) functions you'd like to perform.
The bottom has three separate tabs. The first shows you the current time and date, including when the scheduled task is set to activate. The second tab is a shut down timer tab which lets you add a number of seconds to your shut down process (for those programs that take a while to close). The third is an application tab which lets you choose which programs you want to run.
If you don't want to use up bandwidth during the day, you could use Sleep Moon to run at night by setting it to run a Bit Torrent, or another downloading manager.
I thought the program lacked in functionality when I sat down to actually analyze it. Yes, I do like the fact that I can shut down my computer whenever I feel like it, but I want more.
With a program as simple as this, it should have more focus on giving the users what they want. They need to focus their attention more on just two things. Sleep Moon needs to broaden its scope to fit more of what the users want.
I can schedule a shutdown and a task separately, but I can't do it together? Well, what if I won't be home tonight, but still want to run a program at X time and shut it down? Why can't I do both? This scheduler needs a little more work.
Things that could be added
A log file of my scheduled tasks would be a great addition, maybe I forgot what I had open and I'd like to see what it closed. Along with a log file, how about an error log that self creates if the computer could not shut down? I'd like the ability to schedule more than one task, and at more than one time. If I want to run three programs, then to shut my machine down an hour later, I'd like to have that option. A calendar function could spruce up the interface too.
The Good
The good part about this program is that it's simple. You can't really get confused by what you're doing because there isn't too much going on. Set your shut down time, leave your things behind and go about your business with the knowledge that your computer will shutdown.
The Bad
Because it is so simple, Sleep Moon seems to lack features. It has a solid idea, but just needs to add more overall functionality.
The Truth
If you're looking for something that can shut down your machine, you've found your program. But Sleep Moon can learn a few things from XP's 'Scheduled Tasks' menu when it comes to running applications. I'd like to see more options included in the next build. It does what it says it can do, so I can't really complain too much.
Check out some screenshots below.
