This little utility provides a way to Close Windows NT and to power off 
the PC out of a batchfile if supported by the operating system. I found 
it very usful to write a batch file that sends a message to all machines 
in the peer-to-peer -network, cleans the c:\Temp-Directory, mackes an 
incremental backup and then shuts donw the PC, and I was tired to wait for 
NT to show the "You can now power off the computer" message.
While there are many utilities that makes it possible to shut down the pc 
out of the batchfile (e.g. shutdown.exe in the Windows NT resource Kit) 
there was none to power off your PC - until now.
You have to meet the followings requirements to be able to power off your 
PC automatically:
* You have to have a PC with the ATX form factor (most Pentium II and 
higher, some Pentiums)
* You have to have replaced the original hal.dll in your system32 
directory by the hal.dll.softex 
* the Subentry "Powerdown after Shutdown" in the registry has to have the 
value "1":
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
This can eaysily be set be double-clicking on the PowerOff.Reg file in the 
Zip-Package of this program.

If your PC turns the power off when you shutdown it the normal way, you 
meet most likely all those points.
hen you can use poweroff.exe to turn off the PC out of a batchfile.

I have a batch file named Xshutdown I use for shutting down the PC
It looks something like this:

echo off
net send * Martin is shutting down his PC now! Good night to you all
REM close.exe is another freeware utility you'll find on in the WWW
del c:\*.tmp 
This is a shareware utility that
ren f:\works.zip works.bak
pkzip25 -add=update -path=root f:\works.zip @c:\bat\backup\pklist.lst
chkdsk c:
if not errorlevel 1 goto poweroff
REM This way, my boot partition gets repaired only when it is really damaged!
echo j|chkdsk c: /f /r
:poweroff
poweroff.exe

This cleans the system directory, makes a backup of your works and then 
shuts down your pc while you are already on the way home. This way, you 
can even make a chkdsk or a viruscheck, and you yond have to wait until your
PC has finished. Isn't that great?

Remember you MUST HAVE THE VISUAL BASIC 6 RUNTIME LIBRARIES INSTALLED (but 
they are pare included in your Service Pack 5 anyway!

This program is completly useless under Windows 95 or 98!!!
Have Fun!
Martin Roth, private.adress@gmx.at, ICQ 39134698, MSN lordmyschkin@hotmail.com
