AllOff 6.5

Overview

Have you ever been in a situation where you’re in a hurry but must wait for a download or a conversion task to finish and turn off your computer before you can actually leave? It’s really frustrating but is there anything you can do about it? The answer is yes, and the solution is named AllOff. You can configure it to shut down, restart, log off etc. when the requirements that you picked have been met. These include shutting down when there has been no mouse, keyboard or CPU activity for a specified amount of time and also when there has been no download activity.

Installation

Just extract the archive you downloaded and run the installer. The steps are fairly easy to follow, so you won’t have any trouble completing successfully the installation. At some point you’ll be asked whether you want to install AllOff or AllOff Slave; the second option is used to control a remote computer, so if that’s not the case just select the first choice and proceed.

AllOff is freeware, but you need to get a registration code before you can use it. Head over to its main website and get yours from there, with no cost of course.

The software is compatible with all versions of Windows.

Interface

The program’s main interface is a small window with some information on it regarding CPU and internet activity, as well as the predefined action to take when the conditions to shut down are met. There are also a few buttons at the bottom: Test, Configure, Update, Reset, About and Exit. Test Mode enables/restarts AllOff Test Mode and Configure opens up a new window that is divided into 4 different categories from which you can configure the settings of the program. Those are Activation, Control, Shutdown and Slave Communications. The Update buttons checks for new versions of AllOff and Reset changes all settings to default.

Pros

You can set the conditions that you want to be met in order to have AllOff shut down your computer. For example you can configure it to shut down after X seconds of mouse, keyboard or CPU inactivity. In addition, you can select an amount of data that has to be downloaded before the computer is shut down too. The type of shut down can be chosen as well; you can have the computer power off, hibernate, shutdown, reboot, stand by, monitor or log off.

Cons

None that we encountered in our test.

Alternatives

Auto Shutdown is a free (open source in particular) software that is used to schedule Windows shut down, similarly to AllOff. However, it misses many of the latter’s features (such as the internet inactivity shutdown feature) and is used more for a timed/scheduled shutdown. Other alternatives are AMP WinOFF (free), Switch Off (free), Shutdown Timer (paid), Shutter (paid) and Chameleon Shutdown (free).

Conclusion

Excellent program to try out if you’re a bit more advanced user and feel comfortable messing with various settings. It does the job with no problems.