My favorite way without any third party software is the following::


You can using Scheduled tasks (as long as you have a login password)


First, rightclick the desktop. New--Shortcut

add the following line:

C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\cmd.exe /C SHUTDOWN -S -t 00

next--name your shortcut to SHUTDOWN

Go to start--ALL PROGRAMS---Accessories--System tools--Scheduled tasks

Double click "add scheduled task"

Next.

Browse to shutdown shortcut on your desktop.

open

On the Scheduled task dialog, check "daily"

next. Set the time you want your pc to shutdown.

next. Enter your login password twice. Next

Finish!!

(I found using power options didn't shut my computer down, so I do it this way)

P.S. My instructions work for Windows XP, not sure about others.






(Could not edit my original message using Firefox Browser)

Thanks for the info. However, I followed everything that you suggested and I couldn't get it to work. It got so far than stopped when a dos sub-window appeared with the following at the top of the menu bar saying  

C:\windows\system32\svchost.exe

and in the window

C:\windows\system32>

 

That was it. I double and triple checked everything and it came up the same everytime. Any other thoughts??

 

 

C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\cmd.exe(space)/C(space)SHUTDOWN(space)-S(space)-t(space)00

(space)=press spacebar once.













(sorry, could not edit post using a non-IE browser)

OK, open scheduled tasks.

Right click on the shutdown task--Select properties

Under the "task" tab, make sure these are the same:

Run: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\cmd.exe /C SHUTDOWN -S -t 00

Start in: C:\WINDOWS\system32

Click OK. You may have to re-enter your password.
************************************************************

Also, leave a space before each "switch"

example: cmd.exe /C Shutdown -S -t 00

space after exe, /c, shutdown, -s,-t

Hope it works for you. It works for me no problem. Just make sure under Task tab, it is the way I showed you.

Good Luck!!