Smart Shutdown does not look like much after installation and users judging its tiny interface might be disappointed at first glance. This disappointed will surely change to sheer joy after finding out that it offers functionality that would put many applications to shame.

The basic functionality is to perform an action after a certain time of inactivity on the user’s part. The default setting is to turn off the computer after 30 minutes of inactivity. The interval and the action can be changed in the same menu. Instead of turning off the computer the user could be logged off, the Internet connection be disconnected or a message reminder send.

Then there is the option to perform an action at a specific time or after some time has passed independently from the activity level of the computer. This provides even more options like shutting down network computers.

The list of network computers that will be automatically shutdown can be configured in the options. The administrator can define a message that will be displayed on the network computer and the time that the message will be displayed. Network computers can be shutdown or rebooted this way. Lists of computers can be saved and loaded at a later time which is excellent for remote shutdowns.

And then there are the global options. The user can select to shutdown the system fast, empty the recycle bin, force the system to close all open tasks, configure settings for each user individually and confgiure left and right-click shortcuts that perform certain actions.

Smart Shutdown can be configured to be run from the command line which would make it possible to create a shortcut for an automatic shutdown of Windows.