Shut down your PC with a timer in XP itself - Without installing any Software

Sometimes we want our PC to automatically shutdown after completing a specified task which takes long time to finish(for example :Downloading,installation etc).Many of us use third party software called timers for this task.But why use an extra software(and jam up the system tray)when XP can handle it with ease.

This can be achieved by creating two simple shortcuts

1.Right click in your Desktop and Create a shortcut.

2.In the Box that opens type “shutdown -s -t XXXX”.Here “XXXX” stands for the number of seconds after which you want your computer to shutdown.That means if you want your PC to shut down after 2 hours then you type :

“shutdown -s -t 7200” as 2 hours = 7200 seconds.

3.Click next and give a relevant name to your shortcut.I named it “Timer”.

4.That’s it.Now whenever you want to shutdown your computer double click the shortcut you created.

This method comes in handy and provides a one click timer for your PC.The same task can be achieved by running a command from the Run Box.I will discuss it in another post.

How do I abort the shutdown ?

In case you want to abort the shutdown you need to create another shortcut (say “abort”).Just create a new shortcut and in the location of the item type ” shutdown -a “.Save your Shortcut and give it a relevant name( say “Abort”).

What if I need to Edit the timer ?

If you want to edit the timer that you created simply right click the shortcut(in this case “Timer”) and select properties.Under the shortcut tab edit the value in the Target box and Click on apply and OK.