AMP WinOFF 4.55

Help contents

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

1. Description   ^

AMP WinOFF is an utility designed to schedule the shut down of Windows computers, with several shut down modes and fully configurable. Some of its features are:

• Scheduled shut downs, either at a set time (e.g. 12:00 PM) or after a period of time (e.g. 1 hour and 15 minutes).
• Perform a shut down when the CPU becomes idle.
• Several types of shut down (shut down, restart, close session, power off, administrative shut down/restart, suspend, hibernate and lock computer).
• Immediate shut down and computer lock from the task bar icon menu.
• Several security options including anti-close protection and password protected access to the configuration.
• Option of capturing the desktop, executing a program and/or hang up the modem before the shut down.
• 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, CD's...) 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 for free, as long as you don't charge any money, and only if you use the original package. If you don't have a copy of the original package, you can download it from the AMPsoft web site at http://www.ampsoft.net/.

3. Main window contents   ^

Menu bar

File menu

• Close (discard changes): Activates (or deactivates) the shut down programming using the last saved configuration (discards any configuration changes). Closing the configuration using the "X" button will cause the same effect.
• Exit: Exits the program (without saving the configuration).

Shut down menu

• Activate: Saves the current configuration and activate the shut down programming.
• Deactivate: Saves the current configuration and deactivate the shut down programming.
• Shut down now: Presents a submenu with the available shut down types and executes the selected one immediately. The shut down confirmation dialog can be enabled/disabled in the General options tab.
• Lock computer: Locks the computer, i.e. you need to enter the current user password for accessing the desktop again (in Windows XP and later shows the user selection Window).
• Abort administrative shut down: Aborts an administrative shut down in process in the machine indicated 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 shut down.
• Language: Presents a submenu with the available languages.

Help menu

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

Toolbar

• Activate: Saves the current configuration and activate the shut down programming.
• Deactivate: Saves the current configuration and deactivate the shut down programming.
• Shut down now: Executes the shut down selected in the Shut down mode box of the Shut down programming tab immediately. If you press in the down arrow a menu is displayed so you can choose the shut down type to perform. The shut down confirmation dialog can be enabled/disabled in the General options tab.
• Lock computer: Locks the computer, i.e. you need to enter the current user password for accessing the desktop again (in Windows XP and later shows the user selection Window).
• Abort adm(inistrative shut down): Aborts an administrative shut down in process in the machine indicated in the Administrative options tab. Note that you need administrator rights in the target machine.
• Exit: Closes the program without saving the configuration (doesn't minimize to taskbar icon).

Shut down programming tab

• Shut down system at: Performs the shut down at the selected time. If you check the Date box, the shut down will be performed only on the selected date. If you left it unchecked and check the Auto-reactivate last programmed shut down option in the General options tab, the shut down will be performed every day at the selected time.
• Shut down system in: Performs the shut down after the selected amount of time.
• Shut down system when the CPU is idle: Performs the shut down when the use (load) of the CPU is equal or below than the selected percentage during the indicated amount 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 duration. The boxes will turn yellow on warning values, and will change to red on non recommended values.
• Shut down mode: Use this box for selecting the shut down type that will be peformed.

General options

• Auto-reactivate last programmed shut down: Reactivates the last programmed shut down after the shut down takes effect. Load on Windows startup needs to be checked too, except for Suspend, Hibernate and Lock computer.
• Force shut down: 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 Shut down, Power off and Restart).
  • Force closing only for non responding applications: Force closing only on programs that doesn't respond to the close/end session requests.
• Hang up modem before the shut down: Hangs up the modem before the shut down. This can be useful for ensuring that the modem is hung up in non forced shut downs.
• Capture the desktop before the shut down: Captures the desktop contents into an image file just before the shut down.
• Execute a program before the shut down: Executes a program before starting the shut down sequence. The shut down won't be performed until that program finish.
• Load on Windows startup: Run the application at session start (as taskbar icon).
• 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 task bar showing the configuration of the programmed shut down.
  • Always on top: Shows the display on top of other windows.
  • Show window caption: Shows the display window caption.
  • Show shut down type: Shows the shut down type in the display.
• Play an alert sound when showing shut down warning: If checked, an alert sound is played when showing shut down warning window.
• Display shut down warning window for: Number of seconds to show the shut down warning window (with 0 seconds no warning window is shown). The user can cancel or postpone the shut down from that window, unless you disable that buttons from the Administrative options tab.

Administrative options

• Password protection
  • Use administrative password: Enables the administrative password, which would be required for opening the configuration window and for using most of the items of the taskbar icon menu (including exiting the program). Choose your password carefully since you can't change any settings if you forget it.

• Anti-close protection
  • Restart program if it's aborted: If checked, the program is automatically restarted when it's aborted (a program is aborted when it's forced to close, e.g. terminated it using the Windows Task Manager).
  • Shut down system if the program is aborted: If checked, the system will be shut down when the program is aborted using the shut down type selected. This shut down is always forced.

• Administrative shut down
  • Computer name: The computer to shut down or restart. If you left it blank, the local computer will be used.
  • Message to user: Message that will be presented to the user when the administrative shut down/restart is used.
  • Show message for: Number of minutes to show the notification before the shut down/restart on the target computer. Note that the shut down can be aborted by an user with administrator rights during the time that the message is showed (if you enter 0 minutes, the administrative shut down will be executed immediately).

• Other options
  • Use settings for all Windows users: If checked, the same settings are used for all Windows users, so any programmed shut down will be executed even if a different user is logged on. Only administrators can activate this and change the configuration once it's activated.
  • Buttons enabled in shut down warning window: Enables or disables the Cancel and Reactivate buttons in the shut down warning window. Note that when the buttons are disabled the shut down can't be cancelled.
  • 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 shut downs using command line arguments, soyou can 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 closes the system using the options previously saved in the configuration window.
• "-poweroff": The program powers off the computer.
• "-reboot'": The program reboots the computer.
• "-logoff": The program closes the current session.
• "-shutdown": The program shuts down the computer (use this instead of "-poweroff" for Win98/Me).
• "-adm_shutdown": The program performs an administrative shut down.
• "-adm_reboot'": The program performs an administrative restart.
• "-suspend": The program suspends the computer.
• "-hibernate": The program hibernates the computer.
• "-lock": The program locks the computer (in Windows XP and later shows the user selection Window if enabled).
• "-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 action.
• "-noforce": The selected action 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 Windows user/session that is running WinOFF needs to have the proper rights in order to close the computer. By default all local users have this privilege, but in some corporate environments this could be limited.
• The administrative features usually require an administrator account. Also, if you want to start or cancel an administrative shut down/restart in a remote computer you'd need administrator rights in both local and remote computers.
• The password and other settings are stored in the Windows Registry, so if you want to ensure that the configuration is not modified you shouldn't allow write access to the registry to other users than administrators, at least to the LOCAL_MACHINE section (this is the default setting in Windows 2000/XP/Vista).
• If you receive the error message "Unable to locate the 'Processor' performance object" when trying to use the CPU activity mode, 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 can solve the problem in some cases.

6. Credits   ^

© 1999-2008 Alberto Martinez Perez
E-mail: amp@ampsoft.net
Web site: http://www.ampsoft.net/

Windows XP Desktop Themes support provided by the Windows XP Theme Manager, by Mike Lischke

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.