Setting a Scheduled Shutdown for Your Child’s PC: A Step-by-Step Guide

Good morning, everyone! If you’re a parent looking to help your child manage their computer usage, specifically by ensuring they log off by a certain time, you’re not alone. Many parents are concerned about their kids spending too much time on their PCs, especially late at night. Fortunately, with the right settings in Windows, you can schedule a shutdown that your child cannot easily bypass. Here’s how to do it.

Understanding the Necessity

In this case, the aim is to set a shutdown for your child’s PC at 1 AM. The user needing the restriction is the only account currently on the computer, which means we will have to create a new account with administrative privileges. This way, you can take control of the settings without your child being able to override them.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Create an Administrator Account

• Log into the computer using the existing account.
• Open the Settings app by clicking on the Start menu and selecting the gear icon.
• Navigate to Accounts and then to Family & other users.
• Click on Add someone else to this PC.
• When prompted, choose “I don’t have this person’s sign-in information,” and then select “Add a user without a Microsoft account.”
• Provide a username and password for the new administrator account.

2. Set Administrative Privileges

• After creating the new account, go back to Family & other users.
• Click on the new account you just created and select Change account type.
• Change the account type from Standard user to Administrator and save the changes.

3. Configure Scheduled Shutdown

• Log into the newly created administrator account.
• Open the Start menu, type Task Scheduler, and press Enter.
• In the Task Scheduler, navigate to the right panel and click on Create Basic Task.
• Name the task something like “Shutdown Child’s PC” and click Next.
• Set the trigger to Daily and choose a start time of 1:00 AM. Click Next.
• Select Start a Program and click Next again.
• In the “Program/script” box, type shutdown and in the “Add arguments” box, type /s /f /t 0. Click Next.
• Review the details and click