Hi and Welcome to the World of
Shutdown Monster!

1. Launch Shutdown Monster
2. Click the tab 'Countdown'
3. Set when your computer should turn off (first box for hours, second for minutes, last one for seconds)
4. Click Set! You're all done, I'm sure your PC will turn off sooner or later :P

1. First steps / Countdown
2. Exact time
3. File
4. CPU usage
5. Advanced
     a) Design
     b) Shutdown
     c) Alarm
     d) Do before shutdown
6. Fast access
7. User specific
8. Atomic clock
9. Command-line parameters
10. Special thanks
11. License notes
12. Project information

1. Click on the first tab
2. Select a date in the calendar
3. Specify a time in the box (just below the calendar)
4. And click Set!

File
The first complicated function in Shutdown Monster. Well, it is not that complicated.. But still it is.

1. Click the tab 'File'
2. Click the small button in the box (a yellow symbol) and specify a file. This file will be checked if it's still there.
3. Set the interval between the checks under 'Check every (x) minutes'
4. Click Set!

Your PC will shutdown, if the file disappears.
Very useful, if you're behind a router/firewall.
You can set for example a file on a remote PC, and your PC will shutdown, if the other PC is down, too
(e.g. you can set \\Daddy\c\autoexec.bat or something like that, and if your dad turns off his PC, yours will shut down, too).

CPU usage
Well, I would use this mode to shut down my PC automatically :). It simply checks the current CPU usage, and if it's below the given level for some minutes (i.e. your computer is 'idle', not doing anything), your computer will turn off.

You should check 'Shutdown only if there is no data input', if you don't want to get surprised :).
Its function in a very nice sentence: If you move the mouse or press any key on the keyboard (while the CPU usage is below the given level), the countdown will start over. :P

Advanced
You can see the program's advanced settings here..

Design

If 'Every day' is checked, the program will automatically click the 'Set' button (the one you pressed recently) when it's launched. I wouldn't use this one :P.
'Start on system launch' makes the program start if you turn on your computer.
'Run minimized' makes the program minimize when it's launched.

'Run hidden' makes the program hide when it's launched.
TO STOP HIDDEN RUNNING: in Settings.ini, change Settings, Hide to 0!

[Settings]
Hide=1 <-- Change '1' to '0'

'Stay always on top' makes the program be over the other ones.

Shutdown

'Force applications to quit' makes all applications exit, even if there are unsaved documents, so it isn't recommended!
Shutdown Monster's 'Shutdown for Sure' technology will retry turning off your PC with this function on, if first shutdown fails.

Below this is a combobox, from which you can select what the program should do (instead of shutdown).

'Disable wake events' will make your PC not turn on (from hibernation) if it gets a 'Wake on LAN' signal or another thing like that.

Alarm

Here you can set which file should the program play when using the function 'Alarm', and how many times should it be repeated.

Other

Here you can set the default language, check for new versions, enable the server mode (which will make your PC remote-controllable with another computer), and play with the cultic dice.
Additionally, you can also set which setting-file to use. Quite useful if more people use the same computer.

Do before shutdown

Here you can make Shutdown Monster launch a program and wait until it's closed (e.g. your backup batch file) before shutdown. You can also make it log all the events.

'Countdown before shutdown' works only if you use 'Countdown', and it counts down visually (by showing a number) and with voice (by saying the number).

'Fade out volume before shutdown' makes your PC's volume slowly decrease before shutdown. It's quite useful if you want to fall asleep while listening to some music on your computer. You can set the speed of the fading, the recommended value is 256.

Fast access

Here you can check what Shutdown Monster can do, and assign hotkeys to each function.

User specific (text pasted from the readme :P)

This is the most difficult part of the program, but I'll try to explain it.

/This function is like 'Prevent computer use for x hours after shut down time' in another program ('User specific' is much older than the function in the other program), but this one is user specific and you can give a concrete interval/

In order to use this tab you have to enable the 'Start on system launch' function, so switch to the 'Advance' tab and tick the 'Enable' checkbox there.
After that, you have to specify a period of time in which the current user won't be able to log in again.
An example of when to use this feature:
You've got a sister, but you don't like her much so you decide to allow her using your PC for only 20 minutes at the most. As soon as this period of time is up, the PC will automatically log her off and won't allow her to log in with her account for the next 60 minutes.
To do this you have to do the following things:
1. Tick 'Start on system launch' on the 'Advanced' tab.
2. On the 'User specific' tab tick 'Enable' and in the upper box write 13:00, in the other one 14:00.
3. Switch to the 'Countdown' tab and set it to 20 minutes, then click 'Set'!
Alternatively, you can tick 'Every day' and 'Parental control' on the 'Advanced' tab, and then your sister won't be able to find the program.

Atomic clock

This is really easy, just click on Synchronize, and.. your system time gets synchronized :-P

Command-line parameters

You can run the program with the following parameters:
def - execute the default command
p - power off
s - shutdown
r - restart
l - log off
standby - standby
h - hibernate
lock - lock workstation
scr - launch screensaver
alarm - alarm
menu - show Windows' shutdown menu
cd0 - eject CD
cd1 - close tray
recbin - clear Recycle Bin
clipb - clear Clipboard
mon0 - turn monitor off
mon1 - turn monitor on
temp - clear Temporary Internet Files
v - use verbose logging
If you want, you can add a '-', '/' or '--' prefix to the parameters, it does not matter (i.e., you can use "/p" instead of "p").

e.g. "C:\Program Files\ebiSoft\Shutdown Monster\Shutd.exe" p will turn off your computer.

If you launch Shutdown Monster this way, the program will execute the command and exit.

Special thanks

Special thanks to astratis for his mental support.
Lots of thanks go to the guys at #delphi.hu@IRCnet!
Also thanks to the guys at SourceForge for providing me webspace for my project.

License notes

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA

UT_Evil, UT_Female, UT_Main and UT_Sexy voice packs are copyright of the creators of Unreal Tournament 2004.
Magyar voice pack is copyright of "The New Hungary Site" at http://www.travel-net.com/~whitelaw/hungary/lang2.html

All versions of Shutdown Monster are tested on at least one PC, but this can't guarantee that it will work fine on your computer; so, use it only at your own risk!

Project information

Shutdown Monster is, and was from the beginning, freeware. I worked 2 years or so to make this program one of the bests in its category. If you like it, please donate.

To get the latest news on development and all other information about Shutdown Monster, check Project Web.

To download the latest version and get the source code, check Project Page.