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.
Auto Shut-down will display a small window. The top left corner shows the
current time, underneath this is the shut-down time - initially this will be
empty. To the right of these controls are a further four buttons.
NOW! - will shut the computer down immediately.
Stop - will suspend ASD, preventing a shut-down taking place.
About - display a dialog box
OK - Commits the current settings
Underneath these buttons is a small icon with "Expand" written next to it.
Pressing this will reveal a larger set of controls. Allowing you to control
every aspect of ASD
Specifying the shut-down time
The
are two methods of specify when ASD should initiate a shut-down.The first
method retrieves the time from a file. This allows a 7 day cycle of
shut-down times. The file holding the times is a text file. To create a new
file, enter a new path (e.g. c:\newfile.txt) or use the file locator icon
(consisting of three dots ...).
Once the path of a file has been entered, the Modify button can be used to
change the shut-down time of any day of the week. This gives zones of
shut-down, by allowing a group of PCs to read the same file will allow a
zone to shut-down at the same time, or the time extended by modifying a
single 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
Second method allows the user to specify when this PC should shut-down by
entering the time in the "User time" field.
All
times must be must be of the following format:
HH:MM
A
24hr clock is used e.g. 18:00 is a valid entry.
Action to perform
By
default ASD will shut-down the PC, however by selecting different options
ASD can be used to perform differently
Reboot,
Log
off,
Power off.
Warning Message
This tick box will enable the user to enter a further time. This is used to
display a warning message before the
PC will shut-down. For example if the PC is set to shut-down at 18:00,
entering 00:05, will display a warning message 5 minutes before 18:00.
Password protect
Checking this will prompt the user for a password before changes can be
made.
Modes of operation
There are two modes of operation, "Secure" and "Unsecure". If password
protect is selected, then each time ASD is restored, by default it will be
restored in secure mode. This prevents any modification or the termination
of the application.
When in secure mode, the only way to make modifcations is to unsecure ASD,
the user will be prompted for the correct password when doing so, if
password protect is checked.
Force Shutdown
Checking this will force applications to shut.
Any
unsaved work will be lost. This guarantees a shutdown.
Change Password
Pressing this button displays the dialog box right, which allows the current
password to be changed.
The
default password is the empty string (nothing), don’t 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.
Hide icon
Enabling this check box will allow you to enter a number in seconds
underneath in the "After (sec)" field. This is the number of seconds after
ASD has been minimised its icon from the task tray will be removed.
This allows ASD to run, without any sign of its existence. Allowing ASD to
execute in this mode prevents any one from trying to interfering with its
execution.
Once "Hide icon" has been checked, and a valid number is entered in the
"After (sec)" field, ASD will remove the task tray icon each time ASD is
launched after the specified number of seconds. This can cause a small
problem if the number of seconds is too small. Once the task tray icon is
removed you will not be able to open ASD's dialog box to make any
modifications. To overcome this, launch another instance of ASD, make the
necessary modifications and press the "OK" button. This will save your
modifications, the next time ASD is launch it will use the latest settings.
