Quite often, there is a need to let the PC work, but there is no way to monitor its activity and turn it off after a certain time. Some programs provide for the implementation of such tasks, automatically terminating the Windows session after they complete their assignment. However, often such functions are not enough.
Here the user comes to the aid of very useful features that a timer provides for turning off the computer. With it, you can not worry about excessive energy consumption or excessive load on the elements of the system unit. Directions for applying this, of course, very useful function can be very different. For example, you can turn on the film at night and calmly go to bed, without worrying about what you can fall asleep, leaving the system to work. Or leave the sutra to work, setting both boot and time to turn off the computer.
It should be noted that the timer for turning off the computer is built into the Windows shell itself, so you can not use third-party software. First you need to open the command line. This can be done using "Start - Run", as well as applying the combination of "Win + R". In the line “Run” you need to enter the name of the command “shutdown” and assign a value to its parameters. For example, “shutdown -s -t 3600”, where “-s” is responsible for indicating that the computer is shutting down, and “-t” indicates the time, measured in seconds, after which this procedure will be completed.

The method is extremely simple, however, not entirely convenient. Therefore, you can download any timer to turn off the computer from the Internet, where you can find many different free options. Among them there are very convenient programs that are not limited only to this function, allowing you to turn on the computer, turn off after performing a specific task, and not only after some time. In addition, you can set the exact date when the system needs to shut down.
Such applications, as a rule, are lightweight, do not load the system and have a friendly interface. We can summarize by saying that third-party software is much more functional than the standard Windows feature, which boils down to the execution of the “sleep timer” process.
It should be noted that with the release of new versions of the shell program from Microsoft, the situation improved. At the moment, Windows 7 has several ready-made solutions implemented both through the standard task scheduler and through various gadgets. This allows you to use such a necessary function as a timer to turn off the computer with great comfort.
It will not be superfluous to study the software already installed on the computer, since so many applications support the function of automatically turning the computer on and off. For example, it is often found in many modern media players that increase their potential, which is not limited to just playing audio and video files. Thus, you do not even need a specialized program to turn off the computer on a timer.