How to set a computer shutdown timer. How to set the Windows shutdown timer. We use the scheduler to turn off the computer using a timer

Turning off a computer using a timer is a very typical task that many users face. However, not everyone knows how this problem can be solved. In this article we will talk about how to turn off your computer using a timer in Windows 7, 8, 10 and XP. To solve this problem we will use the command line, task scheduler and third-party programs.

Turn off the computer using a timer using the command line

The easiest and fastest way to shut down your computer on a timer is to use the “shutdown” command, which works equally well in Windows 7 and other versions of Windows. This command can be executed from the command line or using the Run menu.

The shutdown command has many parameters that allow you to fine-tune the process of shutting down your computer. Below we will look at the most basic of them:

/s – Shut down the computer;
/h – Switch to hibernation mode;
/f – Forces termination of all open programs without warning the user;
/t – Set the timer in seconds.

In order to shut down the computer using a timer using the shutdown command, we need to use the /s (shutdown the computer) and /t (set the timer) parameters. Thus, the command to turn off the computer will look like this:

Shutdown /s /t 60

After executing such a command through the Command Prompt or Run menu, the computer will shut down after 60 seconds.

If you want to reboot the computer using a timer, then instead of the /s parameter, you need to use the /r parameter. The same thing with hibernation mode. We use /h instead of /s and the computer, instead of turning on, will go into hibernation mode. You can also add the /f parameter. In this case, shutdown (reboot, hibernation) will begin immediately, and all running programs will be closed without warning the user.

The disadvantage of this method of shutting down the computer is that the shutdown task is created only for one time. If you need to turn off your computer on a timer daily, then you need to use Task Scheduler or third-party programs.

We use the scheduler to turn off the computer using a timer

Windows 7, 8, 10 and XP operating systems have a very powerful tool available called Task Scheduler. You can use it to turn off your computer using a timer. To open Task Scheduler, launch the Start menu (or Start screen with tiles if you're using Windows 8) and search for "Task Scheduler." You can also launch the Task Scheduler using the “taskschd.msc” command.

After starting the task scheduler, click on the “Create a simple task” button. This button is on the right side of the window.

Then we are asked to indicate when we want to complete this task. You can select "Once" if you want to timer off your computer only once. If you need to turn off your computer using a timer daily or in another mode, then you can choose another option that is more suitable for you.

At the next stage, you need to specify the triggering of this task.

After this, we need to enter the shutdown command as well as startup parameters. How the launch parameters of this command are used has already been discussed above.

That's it, the task to turn off the computer using a timer has been created. You can view it in the Assignment Library.

From the context menu (right mouse click) you can manage the created task.

You can run, complete, disable, delete, or open the job properties.

Programs for turning off the computer using a timer

If the described methods for turning off a computer using a timer do not suit you or seem too complicated, then you can turn off the computer using programs from third-party developers. Below we will look at several such programs.

A powerful free program to turn off your computer using a timer. Using the PowerOff program you can configure almost any little thing. On the other hand, due to the huge number of functions, the interface of this program is too overloaded. Which can be very difficult to figure out.

A small program to turn off your computer. The Switch Off program is equipped with a small number of functions and has an easy and intuitive interface. The program is equipped with a built-in web server that allows you to turn off your computer via a local network or via the Internet.

The developer of this program for turning off the computer using a timer claims to support only Windows 7, 8 and XP. Although it should work on Windows 10 without problems.

Many users of home computer systems and office workers are well aware that sometimes it is necessary to use a computer shutdown timer. We will further consider Windows 7 as an example, although in all other modifications of this operating system the actions are completely similar.

But what is this for? There are a lot of situations that can be cited. For example, a person watches a movie on the computer in the evening, but realizes that he can fall asleep and the computer will remain on. An office worker, in order to avoid access to the terminal while he is away, may forget to put the system into sleep mode. Thus, it is necessary to decide in advance the question of how to set the computer shutdown timer (Windows 7). There are several simple ways to carry out this procedure, which will be discussed below.

How to Set a Computer Shutdown Timer (Windows 7): Basic Methods

The methodology behind setting a preferred amount of time before the computer shuts down on its own is quite simple.

As in any other system, in Windows 7, turning off the computer using a timer can be done either using the built-in tools of the system itself, or using special third-party programs. Very often you can find not even full-fledged applications, but so-called widgets that are installed on the “Desktop” in the same way as is done in mobile devices.

As the most commonly used tools in Windows 7, shutting down your computer using a timer can be done either from the command line or from the Run menu. Both methods are almost identical to each other, the only difference is in the commands entered, although they can equally be used both ways.

Set the computer shutdown timer (Windows 7) from the command line

First, let's look at the actions with the command line, called through the execution console (Win + R) by entering the cmd combination. Note that in this case it is not necessary to run it with administrator rights, since the enable or disable commands used work at the user level as well.

After calling a command console window reminiscent of old DOS systems, you need to enter the line shutdown /s /t XXXX (or -s -t), where XXXX is an arbitrary time interval value expressed in seconds (for example, for one hour it is 3,600 ). After this, the enter key is pressed, and a message appears on the screen indicating the period after which the computer will shut down and the final shutdown time.

Setting shutdown in the Run console

Basically, to avoid using the command console, the computer shutdown timer (Windows 7) can be activated directly from the Run menu, which looks much simpler.

After calling the menu, you need to write in it a line similar to the first example, but using other attributes: shutdown -s -f -t XXXX. Please note that while execution attributes can be written on the command line without spaces, here they are required.

In both examples, the “-f” attribute does not need to be used, but its use will allow the system to be shut down forcibly if any programs freeze.

Using the Task Scheduler

In Windows 7, you can also set the computer to shut down using a timer using the so-called “Task Scheduler,” which can be called up through the administration section in the computer properties or “Control Panel” or found through the search engine of the main “Start” menu. This program is standard and is present in absolutely all modifications of Windows systems:

In the editor, you should use the "Scheduler" library section located on the left, and on the right in the action menu - create a simple task.
Next, in the name field you need to enter the desired name of the task (for example, “Shutdown”).
Then (which is very important) indicate the execution mode (once, daily, etc.).
After this, the continue button is pressed, in the programs and scripts section, the shutdown command is selected with the browse button or the shutdown command is entered manually, and the above attributes are written in the add arguments field (-s -f or /s/t/XX, where XX is the time period, again, expressed in seconds).
Then all you have to do is click the continue button and “Done” again.

Quickly turn off the timer

Now a few words about how to disable the computer shutdown timer (Windows 7). Based on the described methods of activating it, you can accordingly use two methods of disabling it:

The first method, if you were using the Command Prompt or Run Console, is to call them again and issue the command “shutdown /a” for the Command Prompt or “shutdown -a” for the Run Console without the quotes.
In the same way, the question of how to disable the computer shutdown timer (Windows 7) is easily resolved in the “Task Scheduler” itself. In this case, all actions boil down to finding the created task in the library section in the middle column and deleting it through the corresponding line in the RMB menu.

The most popular programs and widgets for setting a timer

However, many users may find the above methods too complicated, and some do not like to delve into Windows settings at all. In this case, some third-party utility can be used, generally referred to as the “Computer Shutdown Timer” program (Windows 7).

You can find a lot of such utilities, they all have a minimal size and, as a rule, do not require installation. But after launch, widgets appear on the “Desktop”, and applications constantly “hang” in the system tray. Actually, that’s why access to their settings is carried out differently.

PowerOff is a small utility with settings for specific times of shutdown, sleep, reboot, etc.;
TimePC is a program that allows you not only to set a shutdown, but also to put the computer into hibernation mode and wake the system from it according to specified time parameters;
AutoShutdown - “Computer shutdown timer” widget (gadget) (Windows 7) with capabilities similar to the first two utilities, but always present on the “Desktop”;
Ultimate Shutdown and PC Autos are simple gadgets for controlling PC operating modes.

Conclusion

As you can see, in Windows 7, turning off the computer by timer can be activated in several ways. Which of these should you prefer? It seems that the most logical solution is to use the system’s tools and tools, although third-party widgets can also be a simple solution. It’s just who you like.

However, in the case of the “Scheduler”, the decision to activate the timer looks somewhat more complicated. In addition, special attention should be paid to its operation modes. It is clear that when setting daily triggering, when a person forgets about the installed settings, the computer will turn off at a strictly defined time, and the user will begin to puzzle over why this is happening.

But disabling it in the form of the described commands for the command line and execution console allows you to cancel shutdown not only by timer, but also by standard procedure. True, to use this method, a person must have a good reaction and have a ready-made means of quick access to commands at hand.

But, by and large, even in multimedia players, after watching a movie or listening to a music album, you can set the action to turn off the system by setting the appropriate action in the settings.

Teaching your computer to shut down on its own is useful for many users. If you leave the latest season of the series downloading at night, want to limit the time of computer games for your child, or simply save as much as possible on electricity, you need a computer shutdown timer for Windows 7, 8 and 10. Let's consider the tools and programs from third-party manufacturers built into Windows.

Automatic shutdown of the computer in Windows 7 or 10 can be configured using the OS itself, without installing other applications. But there is no beautiful shell for this action; you will have to specify a number of parameters on the command line or scheduler.

Command line

To launch the command line, in the “Start” menu, find the “System Tools” section and click on the item of the same name. A window will appear with a black background and a blinking cursor. You can also open “Run” or hold down Win + R, you will see a small line. Enter the command shutdown /s /t N into it. Here “shutdown” is the name of the function, “/s” is the parameter to completely shut down the PC, “/t N” indicates that the shutdown will take place in N seconds.

If you need to shut down the computer via the command line after 1 hour, enter shutdown /s /t 3600 and click “OK”. A system message will appear indicating that the PC will be turned off after the specified period of time. Before shutting down, you will be prompted to manually close running applications.

To force close all programs without your participation, add the /f parameter to the formula. If you decide to remove the timer, enter the command shutdown /a, then the automatic shutdown of the computer will be canceled. To end the session, use the /l parameter instead of /s; use the /h parameter to send the PC to sleep.

If you regularly need to shut down your computer via the command line, prepare a shortcut for the operation. To do this, right-click on the desktop, in the “Create” menu, go to “Shortcut”. In the window, enter the path to the program “C:\Windows\System32\shutdown.exe” with the necessary parameters. Automatic shutdown after 1 hour with the closing of all applications will correspond to the command “C:\Windows\System32\shutdown.exe /s /f /t 3600”.

Next, set a name for the icon and click “Done.” To change the picture, select “Change icon” in the shortcut properties. Then, to activate the timer, you only need to double-click on the shortcut, and the computer will turn off after the specified number of seconds.

You can use the Task Scheduler tool to shut down your computer in Windows 10 or another version. It is hidden in the “Administrative Tools” section of the “Start” menu; you can also open the application by entering taskschd.msc by pressing Win + R.

How to set a computer shutdown timer in Windows 7 or 10: in the “Action” submenu, click on “Create a simple task.” Enter an arbitrary name, select the frequency of execution - daily or once. In the next step, set the computer shutdown timer: here you don’t have to count seconds, set the date and exact time. Set the action to “Start a program” and enter shutdown with the /s argument in the settings.

The task will be created and run at the set time. If your plans change, you can always edit the task settings by moving the auto shutdown to another hour.

Third party programs

Unlike Windows system tools, other programs for automatically turning off your computer have more extensive settings. You don't have to count down time in seconds and manually enter parameters to start the timer.

A laconic Smart Turn Off utility designed to automatically turn off a computer running Windows 10, 8, XP or Vista. Only basic settings are available: ending the session or completely shutting down the PC, after a specified period or at a certain time.

Switch Off program knows how to turn off your computer after a certain time. The utility has flexible settings: schedule by day of the week and specified time, choice of action - shutdown, reboot, sleep, disconnect VPN connections. Switch Off may close applications and show a warning before the function starts. Also, auto shutdown can be triggered not by the clock, but when there is no processor or user action for a certain period.

You can download the utility in full version or portable - it does not require installation, it can be launched from any media. The application adds its icon to the Windows notification area; to start the task, just click on it and select the desired function. Switch Off also has a web interface for remote access - you can use it to turn off your computer online in a browser from any device.

The program knows how to set a shutdown timer for a Windows 10 computer. The utility provides several action options to choose from; the time can be set - exact, after an interval, daily or when idle.

Before auto-shutdown, a reminder will be shown from which you can snooze the specified action.

The multifunctional PowerOff application for Windows 7 or 10 has a huge number of timer settings for turning off the computer. Select an action and set the trigger time to start the standard mode. The function can be associated with the processor load level or music playback by the Winamp player. The utility can manage your Internet connection by calculating traffic volumes.

Please note that when you close PowerOff, the timers will be reset. Therefore, set in the settings so that the utility minimizes instead of exiting completely, then the PC will turn off after a specified time.

Conclusion

Setting up an automatic computer shutdown using a timer is not difficult. Use Windows Commands - it's fastest - or other applications if you need more flexible settings.

Good day to you, my dear friends and readers. Very often before going to bed, my beloved wife and I watch a movie or TV series. So somehow sleep comes faster). Usually I always turn off the computer when I'm getting sleepy. But sometimes it turns out that I fall asleep while listening to the movie.

And so it continues to work for a long time, either until I wake up (I have a fairly light sleeper and I cannot sleep all night listening to the sounds of the TV or computer), or until the computer goes into sleep mode. In general, I don't like my computer running all night, even in sleep mode. I need to know it's off.

Execute using the line

Yes, yes. And again our magic line will help us. I just can't live without her. I use it whenever possible.

So how? It's clear? In my opinion it couldn't be simpler. But that's not all. Let's look at another way.

Using the task scheduler

The Windows system has a special application - "Task Scheduler", thanks to which you can assign different tasks to your computer for a specific time. Of course, the computer will not conquer the world for you, but it will help in some other ways.

Using third party programs

Among other things, for those who do not like all sorts of writing and other things, the easiest way is to use a program with a convenient and intuitive interface. For these purposes, I recommend that you use the program WinMend Autoshutdown. It is very simple and you will not have any difficulty using it.

In addition, it can turn off the computer, log off the system, enter sleep mode at a specified time or after a certain time. It's up to you to decide.

But personally, I prefer not to use third-party programs if it is possible to use the built-in Windows tools.

Do you use these methods yourself? Or are you planning to use it? If yes, which one do you like better? In general, feel free to leave comments or ask questions on this topic.

By the way, even such an unnoticeable thing as setting a timer helps you work more productively at the computer. But still this is not enough. I would advise you to study an excellent video course on productive work on a PC, thanks to which you will learn to optimize all your work, reduce time and increase productivity. The course is actually very powerful and interesting. I recommend you to watch it.

Well, I’m finishing my lesson for today and I really, really hope that you liked my article. Don't forget to subscribe to my blog. There will be a lot of interesting things. I look forward to seeing you in my next articles. Bye bye!

Best regards, Dmitry Kostin

In some situations, users need to leave the PC turned on for a long time, for example, when downloading massive files for a long time or installing OS updates. In such cases, it is much more convenient not to wait for the end of operations, but to set a computer shutdown timer. For Windows 7/8/10, this can be done both using system methods and using special programs.

Automatic shutdown of PC using system tools

The easiest way to set a shutdown timer for a Windows 7/8/10 computer is to use the built-in shutdown utility. It allows you to automatically restart or shut down your PC after a specified time. You can use the program in three ways: by entering the desired command in the “Run” line, using the task scheduler, or generating a special batch file.

Standard method

To configure scheduled auto-shutdown, you need to go to the Start menu, go to “All Programs” - “Accessories” and open the “Run” application. In the window that opens, enter the command shutdown -s -t X (where X is the time until shutdown in seconds) and press “Enter.” Immediately after this, a message will pop up near the clock at the bottom of the desktop (in Windows 10 - full screen) stating that the work session will end after the specified time. After the set time interval has passed, all applications will close (with the option to be saved, as with a normal shutdown), after which the computer's power will be turned off.

To force shutdown of the PC without saving data, enter the command shutdown -s -t -f X in the “Run” field, and to cancel the shutdown operation, enter shutdown -a.

If the need to constantly enter commands to configure auto-shutdown causes inconvenience, you can slightly improve the timer setting by creating a special shortcut on the desktop or in another convenient place. To do this you need to do the following:

Click on an arbitrary area of the desktop with the right mouse button.
Go along the path “Create” - “Shortcut”.
In the corresponding line of the window that opens, enter the path C:\Windows\System32\shutdown.exe -s -t X (where X is the time before shutdown).
Click the “Next” button and specify a name for the shortcut. If you wish, you can set a noticeable icon for it. This is done in the context menu, on the tab of the same name in the “Properties” section.

After this, the PC shutdown timer will start in the same way as any other program.

Using the Task Scheduler

You can also use the Windows Scheduler to turn off your computer after a certain time. This application is launched from the Start menu(to do this, enter the word “scheduler” in the search field) or with the taskschd command. msc, which must be entered in the “Run” line.

After starting the utility you must:

At the end of the creation procedure, a countdown timer will start and the system will automatically shut down at the time specified by the user.

Creating a batch file

This method involves generating a special file with a bat extension, when launched, you will need to set the time before the PC turns off. It sounds quite scary, but in fact there is nothing complicated in the creation process.

To create a batch file, you need to:

If Windows 10 is installed on your computer, the text editor must be run as administrator. Otherwise, when trying to save, the user risks encountering an error, since the system requires elevated rights to write information to some folders.

After running the created file, a console window will appear on the screen, where you need to specify the time after which the computer should turn off. The time interval is set in seconds, i.e. if you need to shut down the system in an hour, you should enter the number 3600 into the console, if after two - 7200, and so on.

Special utilities

There are many free applications that provide the ability to automatically shut down a computer running Windows 7/8/10 (however, they are quite suitable for earlier versions of the OS). However, many users claim that when they try to download some timer utilities, the antivirus installed on the system issues a warning about the possibility of infection. Therefore, you should be sure to check the downloaded files before running them.

Completely harmless and free from built-in installation of third-party software are:

It should be noted that the auto-shutdown function is provided in many utilities that are designed to perform long-term operations - converters, archivers, video and audio players (in particular, AIMP).

Therefore, the first thing you should do is look into the settings of existing programs - perhaps there is what you need there.