AMP WinOFF 5.0.1

Help contents

1. Description
2. License agreement
3. The main window
   • Menu bar
   • Toolbar
   • Shutdown planning tab
   • General options tab
   • Administrative options tab
4. Command line support
5. Troubleshooting
6. Credits

1. Description   ^

AMP WinOFF is an utility for scheduling the shutdown of Windows computers, with several shutdown conditions and fully configurable. Some of its features are:

• Several modes/conditions for shutdown planification:
  • At certain date/time (e.g. 12:00 AM).
  • After a period of time (e.g. 1 hour and 15 minutes).
  • When there isn't user activity (i.e. no mouse/keyboard input).
  • When there isn't CPU activity.
  • When there isn't network activity.
• Option of set several conditions at the same time for the planification. Examples:
  • Shut down at 08:00 PM or when there is no user activity for 15 minutes.
  • Shut down when the CPU load is below than 1% and the network transfer is below than 1Kb/s.
• Several types of shutdown: power off, restart, close session, lock session, administrative shutdown/restart, sleep and hibernate.
• Immediate shutdown and session lock from the taskbar icon menu.
• Several security options including anti-close protection and password protected access to the configuration.
• Option of showing a display with the active shutdown planification.
• Option of executing a program, capturing the desktop, and/or hang up the modem before the shutdown.
• Command line support for batch processing.
• Dual English/Spanish version.

See Changes.txt for the changes history.

2. License agreement   ^

This software is freeware, but only for PERSONAL AND NON-PROFIT USE. For commercial, corporate, educational or government use, or inclusion in any distribution made for profit (software compilations, cover DVD's, etc.) you must contact the author for authorization.

This software is provided "as is", WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. The author declines responsibility for any damages arising out of the use of this program.

You can redistribute this software freely, as long as you don't charge any money, and only if you use the original setup package, which you can be obtained from the AMPsoft web site at http://www.ampsoft.net/.

3. Main window contents   ^

Menu bar

File menu

• Close & discard changes: Discards any changes made to the settings and activates/deactivates the shutdown planning using the last saved configuration. Closing the configuration window using the close ("X") button will cause the same effect.
• Exit: Exits the program without saving the configuration (doesn't minimize to taskbar icon).

Shutdown menu

• Activate: Activates the selected shutdown planning and saves the settings (if Auto-save settings is enabled).
• Deactivate: Deactivates the shutdown planning and saves the settings (if Auto-save settings is enabled).
• Shut down now: Displays a submenu with the available shutdown types and executes the selected one immediately. The shutdown confirmation dialog can be disabled in the General options tab.
• Lock session: Locks the current session, i.e. you need to enter the current user password for accessing the desktop again (in Windows XP and later the user selection screen is shown by default).
• Abort administrative shutdown: Aborts an administrative shutdown in process in the machine designated in the Administrative options tab. Note that you need administrator rights in the target machine.

Options menu

• Save Options: Save the current settings without activating the shutdown.
• Language: Presents a submenu with the available languages.

Help menu

• View help: Shows this file.
• About: Shows the About window.

Toolbar

• Activate: Activates the shutdown planning and saves the settings (if Auto-save settings is enabled).
• Deactivate: Deactivates the shutdown planning and saves the settings (if Auto-save settings is enabled).
• Discard: Discards any changes made to the settings and activates/deactivates the shutdown planning using the last saved configuration. Closing the configuration window using the close ("X") button will cause the same effect.
• Shut down now: Executes the shutdown selected in the Shutdown type box of the Shutdown planning tab immediately. If you press in the arrow on the right a menu is displayed so you can choose the shutdown type to perform. The shutdown confirmation dialog can be disabled in the General options tab.
• Lock session: Locks the current session, i.e. you need to enter the current user password for accessing the desktop again (in Windows XP and later the user selection screen is shown by default).
• Abort adm.: Aborts an administrative shutdown in process in the machine designated in the Administrative options tab. Note that you need administrator rights in the target machine.
• Save Options: Save the current settings without activating the shutdown.
• Exit: Exits the program without saving the configuration (doesn't minimize to taskbar icon).

Shutdown planning tab

Shutdown modes/conditions

• Date/time: Shut down at the selected time. If you check the Date box, the shutdown will be performed only on the selected date.

  Tip: If you don't use the date option and check Auto-reactivate last planned shutdown in the General options tab, the shutdown will be performed every day at the selected time.

• Interval: Shut down when the selected interval of time has elapsed.
• User activity: Shut down when there is no user input (from the keyboard and/or mouse) for the selected period of time.

  If the option of Observe system/display low power blocks is checked the shut down won't be performed if there is any low power block set. Some applications like media players or recording software block the computer or the display from enter in an low power mode when they need the system in an active state (so it won't be put in low power while watching a video or recording a DVD, for example). It's common also having a block when a shared folder is opened from another computer.

• CPU load: Shut down when the activity (load) of the CPU is equal or below than the selected percentage for the selected period of time. This option is intended for shutting down the computer after finishing a CPU-intensive task like video compression.

  Note that the computer can be shut down too early if you choose a high value for CPU load or a low value for the period of time. The boxes will turn yellow on warning values, and will change to red on non recommended values.

  If you check Disable the screen saver while monitoring the CPU load the screen saver will be temporarily disabled (but maintaining the monitor low power mode), as some screen savers use complex and/or 3D graphics and could increase a lot the CPU load.

  The option of Average CPU load instructs the program to use the average CPU load of the last five seconds, so the inactivity counter is not reset by sporadic peaks.

• Network transfer: Shut down when the network transfer is equal or below than the selected amount for the selected period of time. You can choose between three types of transfer:
  • Input transfer: the program monitors the data received from the net.
  • Output transfer: the program monitors the data sent from the computer.
  • Combined transfer: the program monitors both input and output transfer (using the sum of both values).

  Also, you need to select what network adapter will be monitored, since most computers have more that one type of adapter available for connecting to the net (for example, modern laptops usually have a network adapter (wired), a wireless adapter and a Bluetooth adapter).

  Note that the computer can be shut down too early if you choose a high value for network transfer or a low value for the period of time. The boxes will turn yellow on warning values, and will change to red on non recommended values.

  The option of Average network transfer instructs the program to use the average network transfer of the last five seconds, so the inactivity counter is not reset by sporadic peaks.

Shutdown behaviour

• Shutdown type: Use this box for selecting the shutdown type that will be peformed.
• Multi-condition behaviour: When multi-condition planning is enabled, this option controls how it works:
  • At least one condition must be triggered: The shutdown will be performed when any of the selected conditions is triggered. E.g.: if you select "at 08:00 PM" and "no user activity for 15 minutes" with this option selected, the shutdown will be performed either at 08:00 PM or as soon as the user inactivity counter reaches 15 minutes, using the first condition that is triggered.
  • All the conditions must be triggered: The shutdown will be performed when all of the selected conditions are triggered (in any order). E.g.: if you select "no network activity for (at least) 5 minutes" and "no user activity for (at least) 15 minutes" with this option selected, the shutdown will be performed at the momment that both conditions are met.

    Note that although each of the conditions could be triggered at different moments, all the conditions must be met at certain point in order to perform the shutdown. Following the previous example, if there is no user activity for at least 15 minutes condition two will be triggered, but if an user starts to use the computer while there is still network activity, the system won't be shut down until the user stops using the computer for 15 minutes, even if the network activity stops before that time.

General options

Shutdown

• Enable multi-condition shutdown planning: Allows selecting several conditions at the same time in the shutdown planning.
• Auto-reactivate last planned shutdown: Reactivates the last planned shutdown when the system is restarted. Load on Windows startup needs to be checked too, except for Sleep, Hibernate and Lock session.
• Force shutdown: Closes all programs inmediately without waiting until they close by themselves. In Windows XP and later this will close also all open user sessions without asking for confirmation (only for Power off and Restart).
  • Force closing only for non responding applications: Forces closing only on programs that doesn't respond to the close/end session requests.

Shutdown sequence

1. Execute a program before the shutdown: Executes a program before the shutdown. The shutdown sequence won't continue until that program closes.
2. Hang up modem before the shutdown: Hangs up the modem before the shutdown. This can be useful for ensuring that the modem is hung up without having to use a forced shutdown. This option have no effect with LAN connections.
3. Capture the desktop before the shutdown: Takes an screen shot of the desktop contents into an image file just before the shutdown.

Other options

• Load on Windows startup: Runs the application at session start (as taskbar icon).
• Auto-save settings: Saves settings automatically after activating/deactivating a planned shutdown.
• Disable modem features and warnings: Disables the modem features and related errors/warnings. You may want to use this if you don't have a modem installed in your computer in order to supress the warning messages.
• Ask for confirmation for "Shut down now": Shows a confirmation dialog when using the Shut down now button/menu.
• Show display: Shows a display next to the taskbar showing the configuration of the planned shutdown.
  • Always on top: Shows the display on top of other windows.
  • Show window caption: Shows the display window caption.
  • Show shutdown type: Shows the shutdown type in the display.
  • Use transparency: Shows the display using the selected percentaje of transparency.
• Display shutdown warning window for: Number of seconds to show the shutdown warning window (with 0 seconds no warning window is shown). The user can cancel or delay the shutdown from that window, unless you disable that buttons from the Administrative options tab.
• Value for the Snooze button: When using Date/time or Interval conditions in the shutdown planification, number of minutes for the snooze interval (the shutdown will be delayed that interval). When using other conditions the Snooze button is replaced with the Reactivate button.

Administrative options

User settings

• Use the same administrative settings for all Windows users: The program uses the same administrative options for all Windows users (all other settings can be different for each user). Only administrators can activate this option, and only them can change the administrative settings once it's activated.
• Use the same settings for all Windows users: The program uses the same settings for all Windows users. If Auto-reactivate last planned shutdown is used the planned shutdowns will be activated in all user accounts. Only administrators can activate this option, and only then can change the configuration once it's activated.

If you activate any of this options in Windows Vista/7, Windows will ask for confirmation to modify the system configuration when you change any settings.

Password protection

• Use administrative password: Enables the administrative password, which would be required for:
  • Opening the configuration window.
  • Using most of the items of the taskbar icon menu (including exiting the program).
  • Using the Cancel and Reactivate/Snooze buttons of the shutdown warning window.

  Important: Choose your password carefully and be sure to remember it since you won't be able to access the program configuration if you forget it.

Administrative shutdown

Note: this options only are applicable to Administrative shutdown and Administrative restart.

• Computer name: The computer to shut down or restart. If you left it blank, the local computer will be used.

  Take into account that you need to have remote shutdown privileges in the target computer:

  • If your network uses a workgroup you need to create in the target computer an account with the same username and password as the one used for the computer in which WinOFF is running (although you can use any other account for opening local sessions in that computer)
  • If your network uses a domain, you need to use a domain administrator account or assign the necessary privileges to the account that is used for running WinOFF.
• Message to user: Message that will be presented to the user when the administrative shutdown/restart is used.
• Show message for: Number of minutes to show the notification before the shut down/restart on the target computer. The shutdown can be aborted by an user with administrator rights during the interval that the message is showed (if you enter 0 minutes, the shutdown will be executed immediately).

Anti-close protection

• Restart program if it's aborted: Restarts the program automatically when it's aborted (a program is aborted when it's forced to close, e.g. using the Windows Task Manager).
• Shut down system if the program is aborted: Shuts down the system when the program is aborted using the shutdown type selected. This shutdown is always forced.

Other options

• Buttons enabled in shutdown warning window: Enables or disables the Cancel and Reactivate/Snooze buttons in the shutdown warning window. When the buttons are disabled the shutdown can't be cancelled or delayed.
• Hide taskbar icon: Hides the system taskbar icon (stealth mode). You can access to the configuration window using the selected hot key or launching the program again.
  • Hot key for showing the configuration window: Enter the key combination that you want to use for showing the configuration when the taskbar icon is hidden.

4. Command line support   ^

AMP WinOFF supports several parameters for performing shutdowns using command line arguments, allowing to use it in batch processing or from other programs. In this mode, the program performs the selected action immediately without showing any cancel dialogs. The supported arguments are:

• "-batch": The program shuts down the system using the shutdown type of last saved options.
• "-poweroff": The program powers off the computer.
• "-reboot'": The program reboots the computer.
• "-logoff": The program closes the current session.
• "-shutdown": Equivalent to "-poweroff" (maintained for compatibility with previous versions of the program).
• "-adm_shutdown": The program performs an administrative shutdown.
• "-adm_reboot'": The program performs an administrative restart.
• "-suspend": The program suspends the computer (sleep mode).
• "-hibernate": The program hibernates the computer.
• "-lock": The program locks the current session (in Windows XP and later the user selection screen is shown by default).
• "-hangup": The program hangs up the modem.

In addition to those parameters, you can combinate them with these ones:

• "-force": The computer is forced to perform the selected shutdown type.
• "-noforce": The selected shutdown type is performed without forcing it.

For example, if you wish to perform an immediate reboot and enforce it, you need to type this in the command line:

WinOFF -reboot -force

You can also use the "-quiet" parameter for starting the program without showing the main window.

5. Troubleshooting   ^

• The password and other settings are stored in the Windows Registry, so if you want to ensure that the configuration is not modified by other users you should activate the option of Use the same administrative settings for all Windows users which made the program store the settings in the LOCAL_MACHINE section of the registry, which by default only can be modified by administrators. Note that in Windows Vista/7 this will cause a UAC confirmation prompt when you change any administrative setting.
• If you receive the error message "Unable to locate the 'Processor' performance object" when trying to use the CPU activity condition, that is caused by having disabled the system performance counters. You can follow the next steps for enabling them:
  • Download and install the Extensible Performance Counter List tool from Microsoft (it's free).
  • Go to the folder in which you installed it (by default "C:\Program Files\Resource Kit") and double-click on exctrlst.exe.
  • Find in the list PerfProc and PerfOS and make sure the Performance Counters Enabled check box is selected for both of them.
  • Close the tool and restart your computer.
• In some systems the computer is may not shut down properly if the monitor or the hard drives are in power saving mode. Updating the motherboard drivers should solve the problem in most cases.

6. Credits   ^

© 1999-2010 Alberto Martinez Perez
E-mail: amp@ampsoft.net
Web site: http://www.ampsoft.net/

Some graphics from the Onebit icon set.

Thanks to Austin Vashaw for the making the new (and shiny) program icon.

Thanks to Alexey A. Dynnikov for his sample code about CPU idle detection in Windows NT/2000/XP.

Thanks to all the people who emailed me with suggestions and bug reports.

If you have any suggestion, find a bug, etc., you can send me an e-mail.