Windows only: Tiny utility Vista Shutdown Timer turns your computer off at the time you specify—and even fades the volume out so you can stay asleep.

Using the no-install-required utility is easy enough—just choose the number of minutes to wait before shutting down or going into standby mode, and click the Run Timer button. You can also use the option to fade out the sound volume, which could really come in handy if you use your computer to play music at bedtime—so the volume will fade instead of a jarring cut-off when the system shuts down.

Vista Shutdown Timer is a free download, we tested it in Vista but it may work in XP—share your experience in the comments if it works for you. For a similar utility to schedule automated shutdowns, check out previously mentioned WinOff—or if you want to stop automatic updates from shutting down your computer, ShutdownGuard might be what you are looking for.

- Startup screen

- Main dialog

Shutdown timer started

- OSD (On Screen Display)

Shortcut wizzard

Creates shortcuts with selected parameters and Icons:

System tray menu (v. 1.5)

- Startup screen in the “classic - mode”*

- Info & settings - dialog

click the window-icon in the top right corner:

open info like this:

- Info & Settings

Command line parameter:

Vistaö-ShutdownTimer.exe [L] [R] [S] [N] [F] [A] [T] [W] [Y] [C] [Mxx] [Hxx] [xx:xx] [setup] [U] [I] ( Vers. 1.5.1) L = Logoff)
R = Hibrate
S = Standby-modus
N = Restart
F = Force shutdown/ Force restart /  -F =disable Force
A = Shutdown
U = Fast user switch - WinXP (classic modus only) - since Version 1.5.1

T = Minize to System Tray
W = Waring sound during the last 20 Sec.
Y = Scip confirm messages in classic mode.

Mxx = Shutdown-time   (xxxxx = time in minutes,
M0 = run now (be carefull!))
xx:xx = Shutdown-tim   (xxxxx = time in Hours > 0 ),
Hxx = Classic Mode.  (run Program in classic
Windows XP/Vista Mode)
C = Classic Mode.  (run Program in classic
Windows XP/Vista Mode)
Setup = Run shortcut wizard

I = run invisible (Only OSD is shown (be carefull! But if you have Problems with the fullscreen mode try that)

Example::VistaShutdownTimer.exe  S M90 W T

- runs in StandbyModes (S) for 90 minutes (M90),
- before shuting down warning beeps are enabled(W)
- minimize to System-Tray (T)
- no whitespaces needed:

VistaShutdownTimer.exe SM90WT

Beispiel:

VistaShutdownTimer.exe  S M90 W T

- Startet den StandbyModus (S) nach 90 Minuten (M90),
- gibt vor Beenden Warntöne aus (W) und
- Minimiert nach dem Start in den System-Tray (T)
- Leerzeichen sind nicht erforderlich:

VistaShutdownTimer.exe SM90WT

Since Version 1.6:

Remote parameter:

VistaShutdownTimer.exe ‘[AUTO]‘ ,‘[NEXT]‘, ‘[PAUSE]‘, ‘[+]xx’, ‘[-]xx’

Important: this parameters have to included in “[" and "]“.

These parameters will be send to the active ShutDownTimer - Instance so you can control it using this parameter set.

[AUTO] = Default: Cycling between minutes (15 to 180 min) and Pause (like a usual TV Sleeptimer)

[NEXT] = Switching through the shortcut mothods

[PAUSE] = Switching pause (On/Off) or starting the timer if its not already started.

[+]xx = Adding xx minutes to the timer countdown.

[-]xx = Removing xx minutes form the timer countdown.

Examples:

Auto Modus (works like a TV-Sleeptimer):

VistaShutdownTimer.exe  [AUTO]

looks like this:

Set next shutdown method:

VistaShutdownTimer.exe  [NEXT]

Add 90 minutes:

VistaShutdownTimer.exe  [+] 90

Switch Pause (or start Time):

VistaShutdownTimer.exe  [PAUSE]

You can also create a shortcut with this parameters.

New Version Info:

Version 1.6.4 (beta):

Fixed some bucks in the gui (cancel timer is not setting the defaults anymore)

Added “Monitor –> Standby” to the System-Tray Menu. This function may not work on Windows Vista.

Vista Shutdown Timer