How to schedule Switch On and Switch Off on your PC

By Gizbot Bureau

| Published: Wednesday, September 27, 2017, 19:49 [IST]

While most of us shut down our computer manually, there is an option you can use called the Task Scheduler to shut down, restart or perform any action at a specific time as you wish. Most of the platforms including Windows, MacOS, and Linux allow you to perform scheduled boot-ups, shut-downs, and wake-ups. In today's article, we have jotted down the list to perform these activities. Do it as follows

Windows

The Windows OS allows you to set boot-up and shutdown times through the Task Scheduler. You can also do this by running command to make your computer to sleep, shut down or wake up. Here is the command

Shut Down: shutdown.exe -s -t 00

Hibernate: rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState

Sleep: rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState 0,1,0

If you want to do it through Task Scheduler,

Step 1: Click Start menu and type 'task scheduler' and select it.

Step 2: On the right side, click on 'Create Task. Now, select a name and check "Run with highest privileges". Also, check 'Run whether user is logged on or not'.

Step 3: Now go to Settings tab and click on 'Stop the task if it runs longer than' and set it to '1 hour'. Doing this will stop your computer from assuming that the task is still running.

Step 4: Now go to Actions tab, click New, and select "Start a Program" as your action. After this, set the program to shutdown and the arguments to -s.

Step 5: Click the Triggers tab and click New. Now change the schedule to fit your timing (for ex, Daily at 12:00 AM), and click Ok.

MacOS X

Talking about Mac OS, you can head on to system preference and then click the Energy Saver icon. Now, click the "Schedule" button at the bottom of the Energy Saver preferences and use the options here to schedule a startup or wake time for your Mac. In here you can schedule you shut down, wake up and other as per your preference. In terms of MacOS, he scheduled startup will only occur when it's plugged in.

SEE ALSO: How to clean your digital camera

Linux

When it comes to Linux, the rtcwake command will allow the user to schedule wake-ups on Linux. This command also puts your computer to sleep, hibernates it, or shuts it down while specifying a time it should wake up again.