Electro Geeza ^[1] asked: “Right now, I am actually looking for some instructions on how to automatically shutdown the computer by using only the built-in components of Windows Vista, without any additional “shutdown computer” applications (oh boy, there are thousands or even billions of those). I am thinking about using Task scheduler in Windows to set up a computer shutdown command in some way. Any other ideas?”

I’m 100% with you Electro Geeza. I try to always use built-in functions in Windows to do a task before I use “other” software. Using little applications to perform tasks opens the door to bugs and crashes. Most of the times there are built in functions to perform most tasks. Most people just don’t know about or how to use them.

How-to Shutdown Windows Vista at a Specified Time

I’m going to use the shutdown command included in Windows Vista to shutdown the computer and the task scheduler to shut it down at a specific time.

1. Open Task Scheduler by going to Start orb, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and then open Task Scheduler.
2. Click Create basic task on the right side of the Task Scheduler.

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3. Give the task a name and then click Next.

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4. Select when you want to shutdown the computer and then click Next. The next screen will differ depending on when you want the computer to shutdown. In this example I want the computer to shutdown every Monday – Friday at 6pm.

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5. Next, choose the rest of the details about when you want to shutdown the computer and then click Next.

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6. Choose to Start a program and then click Next.

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7. Type shutdown under Program/script and type –s –f –t 0 in the Add arguments box and then click Next.

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   Learn more about the shutdown command ^[8].

8. Click Finish on the next screen to save this scheduled task.

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