Pc runtime management
August 13th, 2013
i need a certain software which will allow me…
lets say control when to run my pc e.g. between hours 06.00 – 24.00. if anyone runs my pc after 24.00 that specific program will shut it down and after 06.00 it wont.
is there such a program or windows scheduled task can manage it?
First off I would like to mention that I have never done something like this before but here are my thoughts on the subject.
There may be a simple software solution out there but I am not familiar with it, so I would attempt to resolve this with Windows Task Scheduler. I do believe it is capable of handling a scenario like this if it is properly configured. Now before I go into too much detail I do have to ask, what kind of an account will these users be using to access the computer and what version of Windows will this computer be running? The reason I ask is because most solutions can be disabled / altered if the accounts used to log in will have enough administrative privileges. Again, there may be some sort of a software solution where you can password protect the settings and installation files but I am not familiar with one.
What it comes down to is you will have to set-up a scheduled task to run during the hours which you described, it should also run if the computer is started at any point in between. To accomplish this you will need to create this task using administrative privileges and make sure users who log in DO NOT have equal privileges. This way you can hide the task and password protect it so the task cannot be seen or removed. Without a set-up like this any user who is tech savvy enough would be able to go in and disable the task, which is not what you want.
Let me know if you understand what I am talking about in which case I’ll get into the gory details of setting up such a task. Otherwise you will have to learn how to create a guest account for your users with lower access privileges. Oh and mention what version of Windows you are running.
well actually those gory details are what i am too lazy to google and ask it on warez-bb =D
thanks for your effort…
i got what you mean and setting up such a task via windows task scheduler would be ok. i mean there is no need for a password protection or whether it is an administrative account because the users could not mess with the settings lol. so details?
Okay I finally made it. I am really sorry for the wait, I just couldn’t find the time, which is also why I didn’t give a full explanation from the start.
Now if you say administrative access is not a problem then I’ll take your word for it. I just wanted to make sure you know that any user with administrative access can go into task scheduler and disable this task at any time, then it will not run anymore.
So let’s get to what matters. Since you did not mention what version of Windows I will give the instructions as I see them on Windows 7.
Obviously we will be going to Task Scheduler and creating a new task. Here is a list of all the options that I would set:
- Under ‘General’ tab, select ‘Run whether user is logged in or not’
- Under ‘General’ tab, check ‘Run with highest privileges’
- Under ‘General’ tab, check ‘Hidden’ to hide from other accounts
- Under ‘General’ tab, fill in a description and name at your discretion this is for your use only
- Under ‘Triggers’ tab, create a new entry that runs ‘On a schedule’ and is set to run ‘Daily.’ Under ‘Advanced settings’ only have these options checked and filled in: ‘Repeat task every: 1 minute for a duration of: 6 hours,’ ‘Stop task if it runs longer than: 6 hours,’ and ‘Enabled’
- Under ‘Actions’ tab, create a new entry that ‘Starts a program’ located at ‘C:\Windows\System32\shutdown.exe’ and add the arguments ‘/s /t 10 /c “This computer can only be used from 6am-12am” ‘
- Under ‘Conditions’ tab, uncheck everything
- Under ‘Settings’ tab, check every option except ‘If the task is not scheduled to run again, delete it after.’ Fill in the options that need it as follows ‘If the task fails, restart every: 1 minute’ ‘Attempt to restart up to: 5 times’ ‘Stop the task if it runs longer than: 10 minutes’
If all of that made sense to you then feel free to skip this paragraph, I am just adding it to give a little detail into what we just did and why.
The important things we are doing here is using shutdown.exe to execute a shutdown command for Windows. This will pop up a message (you can change it just be sure to place it in quotes ” ” and don’t add the single quote ‘ I did at the end) that the user can read and after 10 seconds (you can change this as well) it will shut down. This command is set to run starting at 12am for a total of 6 hours and will run even if the computer is started during this time no matter how often. Once the task is set you will have a real hard time getting onto the computer in normal mode (at least I wouldn’t know how) so if you make a mistake and really need to access it you will need to boot into ‘Safe Mode’ and rename or delete the task located in ‘/Windows/System32/Tasks’
Hopefully that’s it. Let me know if you have any trouble or any questions I’ll try to get back to you as soon as possible. Like I said in my first post I have never done something like this but I did test it and it worked as expected on my end.
*EDIT*
This task will run EVERY day as I described it above. You can change the schedule under the ‘Triggers’ tab but if you wanted to, say, disable the task for a night you can right click and disable the task in the Task Scheduler. You will just have to be sure to enable the task again the next day.