The Task Scheduler.

[Peter Jason]

Win7 SP1

I use a bulk image downloader during offpeak times
of the day.

This downloader has a scheduler built in to stop
downloading at the end of the off-peak times, but
continues on if a last download project is not
complete.

This is no good, so I use the Windows 7 "Task
Scheduler" to turn off the downloader program
itself at 8.55am. Except that it does not work
because the program is still downloading at 9.00am
even though the Task Scheduler log says it has
been shut down.

Is there a specific "turn off" instruction in Task
Scheduler instead of the usual turn-on for a fixed
time instruction? Will it turn off programs on
the task bar?

Peter

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Win7 SP1

I use a bulk image downloader during offpeak times
of the day.

This downloader has a scheduler built in to stop
downloading at the end of the off-peak times, but
continues on if a last download project is not
complete.

This is no good, so I use the Windows 7 "Task
Scheduler" to turn off the downloader program
itself at 8.55am. Except that it does not work
because the program is still downloading at 9.00am
even though the Task Scheduler log says it has
been shut down.

Is there a specific "turn off" instruction in Task
Scheduler instead of the usual turn-on for a fixed
time instruction? Will it turn off programs on
the task bar?

Peter

Set up a larger safety margin.

 

[Paul]

Win7 SP1

I use a bulk image downloader during offpeak times
of the day.

This downloader has a scheduler built in to stop
downloading at the end of the off-peak times, but
continues on if a last download project is not
complete.

This is no good, so I use the Windows 7 "Task
Scheduler" to turn off the downloader program
itself at 8.55am. Except that it does not work
because the program is still downloading at 9.00am
even though the Task Scheduler log says it has
been shut down.

Is there a specific "turn off" instruction in Task
Scheduler instead of the usual turn-on for a fixed
time instruction? Will it turn off programs on
the task bar?

Peter

Most OSes have one of these.

"PsKill v1.14"

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896683

Test it first, and see if it has the desired effect
(instant kill).

OSes have a need to terminate a process, or a process group.
I don't know if Windows has process groups or not, so perhaps
killing processes is all you can do. The need to kill process
groups, arises if you're dealing with an accidental fork bomb.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fork_bomb

If a downloader had a main process, and a separate process
for each file being downloaded, then that might mean a bit
of extra complexity. You should be using Task Manager, or
Sysinternals Process Explorer, to get as much info as you
can about your Bulk Downloader, so you can do the job right
the first time.

If you set the Task Scheduler to "pskill" the Bulk Downloader
at 8:55, it should be gone at 8:55:01 Even if it means
leaving an open file to be discarded by the OS later.

Paul