Final Countdown

CNET Editors' review

by: CNET staff on August 29, 2011

Leaving your computer up and running is sometimes necessary--if you're waiting for a download to finish, for example--but it's also a security risk. If you want to make sure that your system shuts down after a specific amount of time without your involvement, try Final Countdown. This simple utility can be set to perform a variety of shutdown tasks after you've gone, ensuring that your computer isn't vulnerable in your absence.

The program's interface is plain and intuitive, with its features arranged in an easy-to-navigate layout. Drop-down menus let users select the number of days, hours, or minutes in the future that the program should perform its task. Using radio buttons, users can choose between shutdown, restart, sleep, hibernate, log off, and lock options. In versions of Windows from Vista on, a Good Night Mode will gradually turn down the sound, a nice feature if you like to fall asleep listening to music but don't want to leave your computer running all night. We liked the fact that Final Countdown lets users save up to six favorites, making it easy to select a certain amount of time that you use frequently. When the program is active it appears as an icon in the system tray; a small pop-up displays the time remaining as well as a snooze button if you're not quite ready to go. We do wish that Final Countdown came with a Help file, as not all of its features were totally self-explanatory; we're still not sure what the difference is between a favorite and a shortcut. Overall, though, we found Final Countdown to be a well-designed and useful program, and we recommend it.

Final Countdown comes as a ZIP file and is accessible after extraction with no need for installation.

Publisher's Description

From Uni.Q Design:

Final Countdown Is A Sleep Timer Software For Windows Platform. It locks up your PC during the countdown. Be sure that no one is messing up your PC while you are sleeping or away from your PC. It starts up in a second. You can minimize it to the task bar so it does not interrupt your work. It notifies you for your last minutes. On the last 5 minutes and last 1 minute it notifies you with a small pop-up. You can cancel or postpone the scheduled action by just one click if you need more time. Also you can control almost all of its features from the task bar right-click menu. You can use task bar menu's predefined times to do whatever action you would like it to do. It comes with several different color themes that you can use it however you like. It lets you change most of its predefined settings and giving you a wide choices of settings.

Final Countdown is a completely Free software. You do not have to pay anything for it or the updates. Features In Detail; Shutdown, restart, lock, log off, stand by, hibernate your PC at the scheduled time. Insomnia mode : This mode prevents you PC from entering sleep mode automatically,so your can be sure that your task has been applied at the selected time. Faves : Lets you save your frequently used countdowns as shortcuts in application menu for quick access. Shortcuts : Lets you save your frequently used countdowns as shortcuts to your desktop,so you can just run this shortcut to automatically run saved countdown without the need of running the final countdown first. Good-night mode : If you like to listen to music while you fall asleep you will love this mode because this mode lowers your PC's volume by as the countdown goes on. Anti-guest system : Anti-guest system is a personal privacy protection system that stops people from messing up with your PC. Automatic updates. Customizable Interface colors. Very easy Interface. Fast,stable and reliable. Last minute notifications : Final countdown warns you when you the countdown is about to finish so you may cancel the task if you need more time. Currently supported languages: Turkish, English, German.

What's new in this version: Version 1.0.4: