Chronometask is a timer which can perform a system task after a specified amount of time. The task could be shutting down Windows or rebooting, launching or closing a program. Chronometask can just be used as a timer that will sound an alarm or display a message when the time has run out. It can even be used as a simple oven timer.

The are 8 buttons on the main window. When you place the mouse pointer over the button it turns red and it's brief description is displayed on the LCD panel.

These buttons are :-

• Increase timer

  - Increments the timer by 1 minute each time you click it.

• Decrease timer

  - Decrements the timer by 1 minute each time you click it.

• Actions Manager

  - Allow you to set which action tasks to perform when the counter hits zero.

• Set timer.

  - Sets the timer to the exact hours, minutes and seconds to start from.

• Start timer.

  - Starts the timer counting down.

• Pause timer.

  - Stops the timer at it's current position so that it can be continued by clicking the Start timer button.

• Stop time.

  - Stops the timer and resets it back to zero.

• Stop Watch.

  - Starts the timer from zero counting upwards.

Background

I created Chronometask because I wanted to have an oven timer on my computer so that I would know when my meal in the over was cooked while up stairs on my computer. I wanted the timer to be as quick and easy as an oven timer. I thought if I was going to create an oven timer on the computer it might be useful if it could have the option to perform a task when the alarm goes off.

Using Chronometask to shutdown Windows.

One of the main tasks I wanted it to do was shutdown the computer after a specified amount of time. For example if I was burning a CD and I could see that it was going to take say half an hour, I could set the timer for say 40 minutes (a bit extra for safety) and I would have to come back to the computer to shut it down. I could go to bed and leave it.

Actions manager

The Action manager shown below is where you set what actions you would like to perform when the count down hits zero. There are currently four different types of actions that can be performed when the counter hits zero.

Types of tasks

• Sound alarm.
  The default audible alarm with sounds for 5 seconds. There is an additional sub options to play a WAV sound file of your choice.
• Show message.
  Displays a text message the user inputs into the box.
• Execute program.
  Launches an executable program file. Specified with it's full path.
• Shutdown windows.
  Allows you to shutdown, restart or log off Windows.
• Launch URL
  Opens a website URL in your default web browser. This can be used for logging information via a web page submit.
• Loop timer
  Resets the timer back to the time you set and starts again. This is useful for performing hourly tasks or reminders.

The tasks can be performed together such as alarm, message and execute program.

Alert Message

Below is the message window that displays a message that you specify when the timer hits zero.

Setting the timer

The set timer window allows you to set the exact hours, minutes and seconds you want to start the timer from.