If you are a network administrator at your office/company, you may ever be have an experience (or your daily job :D) to shut down many computers that connected into your local area network. If you have to shut down it one by one computer, sure that job that annoy and tire. I have a trick to make your life as a network administrator be easier, I will share it for you….Windows XP has a tool that has included inside there, it calls shutdown tool. Shutdown tool is a tool which let you to shut down other computers from a computer.
Follow these steps to use it:
1. That tool is a DOS tool so you can call it from Start - Run menu and type cmd (open command prompt picture) and you may type shutdown at DOS prompt, but I suggest you just use the GUI option to make it easier. To call the GUI version of shut down tool you may type at Start - Run menu with shutdown -i and press Enter key.

2. If you doing it right so you will see a Remote Shutdown dialog window.

3. So, begin from adding a computer name that will turned it off with click Add button and then just type computer name on Add Computers window and if you’ve finished just click OK button.

4. Select your action at What do you want these computers to do combo box (Shutdown, Restart or Log off those computers), you may also set the warning time for user to prepare, set it with adjust value at Display warning for textbox (make sure Warn user of the action has checked).

5. Don’t forget to choose your reason what the reason to shut down those computers, with select from Select the option that best describes, why you want to shutdown the computers combo box and also type your own comment at comment textbox.

6. After you click the OK button so the other users will see the System Shutdown window and they also can look the time and comment that you’ve set.

7. The users may cancel the shut down command with type at Run textbox with shutdown -a (also can type it at Command Prompt console).

note :
(a) You can explore the shutdown option with just type shutdown at Command prompt console (for example : You also make the other computers shut down with command : shutdown -r -m \\computername -c "Want apply new driver, sorry...."
(b) Make sure you have an Administrator access to your client computers.

(article no:0044)