Use Auto Shut Down Before Bed to Save Computer Energy

If you're a home-theater-PC pusher—or if you just like to watch TV and movies on your small screen—using the automatic shut down feature can act as a sleep timer and save tons of energy.

Even though watching TV before bed is ill-advised, we all need a lazy night sometimes. Before you hit the sheets with your laptop tuned into Hulu, you might want to set a computer "sleep timer" to keep your eyes closed and your pockets full.

If you're working on a Mac, you've already got the necessary application built right in. Head to System Preferences and set the Energy Saver option to shut down the system at a pre-set time.

If you're working with Windows, Lifehacker tracked down tutorials from The Spinning Donut that detail how to set an automatic shut-off for Windows XP or Windows Vista.

If you want some added features, check out Smart Shutdown for Windows or iWannaSleep for Mac. Those applications will shut down your machine and also clear the recycle bin/trash can and quit any applications before it dozes off, if you ask it nicely.

Via Lifehacker

(Image: Flickr user SabrinaDan Photo under license from Creative Commons.)

Comments (4)

with linux open a terminal and type,
sudo shutdown -h 45
45 are the minutes before shutdown
Cntr C to cancel ;)

I usually keep my laptop on 24/7, but it does start to get slow after a week or two just because of all the catching of ram etc. So I decided to use the auto-shut down thing on my Vista laptop for every Sunday night. PC is much faster and prepared for the new week.

Also shouldn't use it on your bed (as shown). Prevents the laptop from cooling property, causing the fan (if it has one) to spin faster, which will burn it out faster (just happened to my wife), which will end up burning more electricity.

I have an app that you can use to put your Mac to sleep from your iPhone or iPod Touch. Another way to save some energy.

iSleep for Mac