AMP WinOFF 3.5 -------------- © 1999-2001 Alberto Martinez Perez E-mail: alberto_mtnez@yahoo.es WWW: http://go.to/ampsoft Contents -------- 1. Description 2. Legal stuff 3. Installation 4. Usage tips 5. Command line support 6. Known problems and limitations 7. Credits 1. Description -------------- AMP WinOFF is a utility to shut down Windows systems automatically, with several working ways. Some of its features are: - Shut down the system at certain hour (e.g. at 12:00). - Shut down the system in several minutes (e.g. in 15 minutes). - Shut down the system when the CPU becomes idle. - Several types of shut down (shut down, restart, ...). - Option for hang up the modem instead of doing a shut down. - A password can be set to access the configuration. - Complete command line support for batch process. - Option for capture the desktop and/or execute a program before the shut down. - Option for start with windows, for daily programmed shut down. - Immediate shut down from the tray icon menu. - Option for show an alert window to allow the cancellation of the shut down. - Works with Windows 9x/Me/NT/2000. - Dual English/Spanish version. See Changes.txt for the changes history. If you have any suggestion, you find a bug, etc., send me an e-mail. 2. Legal stuff -------------- This program is freeware, but only for private use (not commercial). For commercial use or inclusion in distributions that you gets paid (CD's, ...) contact with the author for authorization. You can redistribute it for free, whenever you use the original package. If you don't have an original package, you can find it at http://go.to/ampsoft This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY. The author declines responsibility for any possible damage due to the use of this program. 3. Installation --------------- The program is distributed in two formats: Installer: Execute the .EXE file and follow the instructions of the install windows. ZIP file: Simply extract the program's files to the directory where you want to install them, and make a shortcut to the executable file. 4. Usage tips ------------- - Due to the differences among Windows 9x/Me and NT/2000, the same option may work different in each version. This is a description of how it works: 1. Shut down option will close the system in Windows 95, power off the computer in Windows 98/Me and close the system in Windows NT/2000 2. Close session option will close the current session in all supported versions of Windows. 3. Restart option will restart the computer in all supported versions of Windows. 4. Power off option will close the session in Windows 9x/Me and power off the computer in Windows NT/2000 (See the section 5 for details about this). Note: In order to power off option works, you need the appropriate hardware. If you don't have it, the system will be closed instead. - The Force shut down option assure that the system will be shut down, no matter what programs would be actived. In the other hand, you may lose any unsaved data of these programs, so use this option carefully. - When a program is executed before the shut down, AMP WinOFF will wait for the program termination, so if the programs don't end (e.g. it wait for user input to terminate), the system will not be shut down. - The Option for shut down the system when the CPU is idle would be useful when you need to do a task that take a long computation time. You can let the computer working by night, and when the task finish, the CPU becomes idle and the system is closed. - If you uncheck the Date option and check the Start with Windows option, the program will shut down the system every day at the same time. - The Option for use settings for all users affects also to the start with windows option, so if both options are checked, the program will start when every user log on. - The Option for hang up the modem before the shut down is useful to assure that if the systems hangs during the shut down, at least the phone line is available. 5. Command line support ----------------------- - AMP WinOFF supports several parameters to allow run it directly from the command line, for a batch shut down. In this mode, the program performs an immediate shut down without showing the cancel dialog. The suported parameters are: - "-batch": The program close the system using the options previously saved with the configuration window. - "-shutdown": The program shut down the system. - "-logoff": The program closes the session. - "-reboot'": The program reboot the system. - "-poweroff": The program power off the system. In adition to these parameters, you can also use these other ones: - "-force": The system is forced to perform the selected close mode. - "-noforce": The system is closed with the selected close mode without forcing it. For example, if you wish to do an immediate reboot with force you can type this in the command line: WinOFF -reboot -force You also can use the parameter "-quiet" to start WinOFF without showing the main window and active with the last saved configuration. 6. Known problems and limitations --------------------------------- - The Power off option not work always on Windows NT/2000 (mainly in NT). Some people report me that the this option works well in their systems, but others tell me that this option restart the computer instead of power off it. This is a issue of the version of Windows NT and the APM configuration of Windows 2000, and not a fault of this program. - In Windows NT/2000, the user need to have the proper rights in order to close the system. - In some cases the system is not closed properly if the monitor or the hard drives are in power saving mode. This is an issue of the hardware and/or the operating system, and not a fault of this program. - The password and other settings are stored in the Windows Registry, so if you want to assure that the configuration is not modified you should block the access to the registry to other users than the administrator, at least to the LOCAL_MACHINE section. Also, the password is encoded instead of encrypted, so an (very) advanced user with access to the registry may discover it. I expect to increase the password security in future versions. 7. Credits ---------- © 1999-2001 Alberto Martinez Perez E-mail: alberto_mtnez@yahoo.es Thanks to Javier Caneiro, Juan Ignacio Fernandez, Fiton Huang, Mark Decent, Juan Andrés Botero R. and other people for their support and suggestions.