"R.Wieser" on Sat, 14 Nov 2020 10:17:56 +0100
typed in microsoft.public.windowsxp.general the following:
pyotr,

I'm not at all sure what a "good night" program is.

Good Night, going home, I'm done for the day, turn it off ,
unplug and go home / to bed.

In that case I did understand what you ment (just wasn't sure about it).

Okay, so what it sounds like is you want a "hack" to the system
which will run programs X, Y, and B before doing it's own version
of put out the cat, turn off the lights, and wind the clock.

Nope. It already can, using "gpedit" to point to a program, script or
other - though "gpedit" doesn't seem to be present in all versions of XP.

Right. And having a "routine" end of session "good night"
program which I run and which then shuts the system down
_works for me_.

:-) Ofcourse.

The problem is that I know myself : I will, at some time or another, simply
start to forget to do that simple, just before actually shutting down, step.
It also doesn't help that I've got access to several machines, which have
different configurations.

I think the question is "How do I, the programmer, get my
choices included in the shut down operations."

Not quite. I already knew that I could use "gpedit" for that. But I
realised that I had (and have) no idea when those "shut down operations" get
executed, and under who's credentials (and how that could bite me in the
behind).

Besides that, I wanted to know if the OS maybe had a the reverse of the
"startup" folder available, and if so how I could activate it. Seeing the
lack of response to that part of my question I think I must assume its not
there. Oh well, it was a long shot.

Keep us informed on any progress.

Next to having created a "shutdown" folder next to the "startup" one I've
placed an about 10 line VBScript (looping thru all files in the "shutdown"
folder and "run"-ing them) into the
"C:\WINDOWS\system32\GroupPolicy\User\Scripts\Log off" folder, and than
selected it using "gpedit". That works.

Alas, automating the whole process (creating the "shutdown" folder adding a
"logoff" rule and the script) doesn't work, as adding the "logoff" rule to
the registry doesn't work (on XP Pro. Does seem to work on other XP
versions (the ones without gpedit) though).

Sounds like fun.

I think the expression is "Let it be a challenge to you." B-)

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

--
pyotr filipivich
Next month's Panel: Graft - Boon or blessing?