[JustWeave]

I have a kid who is still on the computer in the wee hours of the morning. When said kid finally decides to go to bed, most of the family gets woken up in the process. Kid and I are tired of fighting about this. Both parents need their sleep.

Is there a safe, free, shutdown timer, sanity saver you can recommend? We have Windows XP. Maybe it has something I don't know about. I want the computer to safely shut itself down at a certain time each day and allow a restart at a civil hour of morning daylight.

Thanks. Wish I could go back to bed now.

[Dejibo]

http://www.fileheap.com/software/auto_shutdown.html

here is a list of programs that will shut down your computer at certain times. Some are free, some are not.

Would your child honor the shut down? or would he simply restart and keep playing?

They do sell child lock/child timers for xp

http://wareseeker.com/Home-Education...zip/3b76ca599f This program is $19.95. PLEASE read the whole thing before you decide to buy ANY program. There are many free things out there if you search.

I hope you get some sleep.

[Jomar]

Does your Anti Virus program have a parental control built into it?

It might be only on the internet security suite type of programs.
I know my Zone Alarm has it. { internet security suite & the extreme both do}

If you know how to set start up & shut down in the BIOS you can do it that way. but kid could just do a manual restart unless you also lock it somehow - I've never looked into that part of it in BIOS , but I'm sure it's possible.

here's a listing of parental control programs from cnet -
http://download.cnet.com/windows/par...g=ltcol;narrow

[JustWeave]

Thanks for the input. If the kid is smart, they won't fight the timer, if I go that route. I really don't want to.

[RobinM]

You could always put a timer on the plug socket!