Auto Shutdown version 3.1 
Copyright (C) 1999 Rajwant Singh Gill
All Rights Reserved
www.gills.org

User Guide

Installation

The evaluation version of Auto ShutDown (ASD) is distributed as a compressed zip, approximately 620KB. Once ASD has been downloaded, decompress into a temporary directory. 

Amongst the decompressed files is an application called setup.exe. Run this file, by double clicking it with the left mouse button. This application will guide you through the installation, copying all the necessary files onto your computer.

The set-up application will prompt the user to install ASD in the start-up folder. Doing so will start ASD each time the computer is switched on. If this option is not selected ASD will need to be executed manually when required.

Once the installation has finished, all the program icons would have been created and ASD will be ready to run.

Using ASD

When Auto ShutDown (ASD) is executed, it automatically minimises into the task tray in the bottom right of the screen.

ASD is the blue arrow facing down.

To make changes to its settings, double click its icon with the left mouse button.

Modes of operation

There are two modes of operation, "user" and "administration". When the application is restored, by default it is in user mode. While in user mode, the settings can not be changed.


User mode
 
Admin mode
 

Only two buttons can be pressed in this mode. About displays an informative dialog box, with useful information. The Admin button switches mode of operation, if a password has been set, the mode will only be changed provided the entered password is validated.

Admin Mode

Current time: this refers to system clock

There are two methods to specify the time at which the computer is to be shutdown. The first method is to enter the time in the "ShutDown at" field.

The second method is to specify the path to a file, which contains the time. This gives zones of shutdown, by allowing a group of PCs to read the same file. The file can be located anywhere in the LAN. 

Example entries:

C:\shutdown.txt
C:\ASD\time.txt
T:\system\asd\shutime.txt

The entry is this file must be of the following format:

HH:MM

A 24hts clock is used e.g. 18:00 is a valid entry.

It is essential a selection is made in the "Use time from" field. Choosing "User" will use the time from the "ShutDown at" field as the shutdown time and "File" will use the time from the text file as the shutdown time.

Password protect

Checking this will prompt the user for a password before changes can be made.

Force Shutdown

Checking this will force applications to shut.

Any unsaved work will be lost. This guarantees a shutdown.

Password Button

Pressing the password button displays the password dialog box, which allows the current password to be changed.

The default password is the empty string (nothing), dont enter anything in the current password field if this is the first time you are changing it.

The new password must match the confirm password for the change to be made.


Commit

Commits the current 

