How can I use my computer as an alarm clock? I would like it to play music and load an exercise program.
I always turn it off at night because I am interested in saving power.
If I want this done do I have to set it to hibernate? I’m really not sure how to do this.
Try this You will have to leave your computer running for this to work, but a computer turned on that is not being actively used consumes very little energy. You won’t notice the difference on your power bill.
SSG Schwartz
If you have outlook you could also easily set up audio alerts for various dates and times. Then add your favorite .wav file for a wake up.
On the Tools menu, click Options.
On the Other tab, click Advanced Options.
Click Reminder Options.
Select or clear the Display the reminder check box.
Select the appropriate .wav file
Open Task Scheduler (Start|(All) Programs|Accessories|System Tools|Scheduled Tasks…or just go to Start|Run and type tasks). Create one new task which points at a sound file. Create another one to start your exercise program. Set them to repeat on the desired days at the desired times.
As SSG Schwartz said, you will have to leave the computer running but they really don’t use much power. CRT monitors can use quite a bit, so use the Power Options applet (under Start|(Settings)|Control Panel) to turn yours off after 30 minutes or so. Make sure that Standby and Hibernate are set to Never. That will keep your machine running without consuming too much juice.
I use the College Alarm Clock. It’s fairly useful – you can point it at any sound file on your computer and set a time, but the days are all strung across the top in tabs and you can set each day’s time and sound individually.
On my PC (Dell, XP), I can put the computer in standby and have a task wake it up and run. I believe you have to have power management features on the motherboard to do this, and I don’t know if all PCs do.
Go to Windows scheduled tasks and create a task. In the properties for that task, under the settings tab, check the box at the bottomed captioned “wake the computer to perform this task”.
Googling turns up programs which claim to wake up your PC from power off. Here’s one of them:
http://www.filedudes.com/Auto_Power_on_Shut_down-screenshot-18980.html