# Alarm clock software

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alarm-clock-software/513499>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 12, 2009, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alarm-clock-software/513499 "2009-10-12T04:46:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2009, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alarm-clock-software/513499/1 "2009-10-12T04:46:46Z")

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Is there a way to set a streaming radio station to launch itself on my computer at a particular time, like an alarm clock?

If so, will it awaken a computer on standby?

Or is that too much to ask?

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**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2009, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alarm-clock-software/513499/2 "2009-10-12T09:56:40Z")

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I have never found a way to awaken a computer on stand by via software.

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**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2009, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alarm-clock-software/513499/3 "2009-10-12T14:04:05Z")

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It’s trivial to do on a Mac, I don’t know about with Windows.

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**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2009, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alarm-clock-software/513499/4 "2009-10-12T22:13:34Z")

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I do it all the time under XP. Go to “Scheduled Tasks”, set up your task, and on the tasks “settings” task, check the “Wake the computer to perform this task” checkbox at the bottom. This will wake up the PC from standby or hibernate mode, so you use one of those rather than “turn off” when you power down the PC.

I record things from Internet radio stations this way. I usually schedule a simple task to wake up the PC a few minutes before the radio task starts. That’s because sometimes the radio task timed out before XP finished enabling the Internet connection.