As most Windows users can tell you, your PC runs MUCH better after a reboot. The reason is simple: with a reboot, Windows clears all programs and services from your PC's memory (RAM) and starts fresh. No misbehaving software means a faster and more responsive computer.

If you leave your PC on all the time like I do, rebooting once in a while is a must. However, nobody likes to sit there and wait for several minutes while your PC restarts. The solution: schedule your computer to reboot overnight. 

Smart Shutdown

I use a free program called Slawdog Smart Shutdown to accomplish this. First step: download Smart Shutdown and install it.  Accept all the defaults, and Smart Shutdown will startup automatically after the installation. Here's what you'll see:

It's a simple interface, but there is one thing you should be aware of. Smart Shutdown adds itself to your startup programs so that it's always in memory, waiting for the time that you've set to shutdown or reboot your PC. Windows XP has a built-in task scheduler, so rather than keep Smart Shutdown in memory all the time (even though it's tiny), I prefer to not waste the extra resources, small though they might be. I'm a bit of a stickler when it comes to stuff like this. So you have two options now: the first set of instructions is if you want to use Smart Shutdown the "easy" way. The second option is if you want to save the 4 megabytes of RAM it takes up and use Task Scheduler instead.

At this point, you may ask - why choose Smart Shutdown when there are other programs that do the same thing? Smart Shutdown actually has a few extra options than other programs and provides a more powerful and robust reboot/shutdown tool. If you use the other options that Smart Shutdown provides, we suggest using the Option 1 part of this tutorial so that Smart Shutdown stays in memory.

Option 1: Easy Scheduled Reboot

This is painfully simple:

• From the drop-down box where it says Turn Off, select Reboot.
• Click the Set button
• Click the At... button
• In the box, type in 5:00AM (or whatever time you prefer)
• Check the Every Day box
• Click OK

The window will disappear, and Smart Shutdown is now activated to reboot your computer at 5:00AM every day. A warning box will pop-up just before it shuts-down, just in case you happen to be at your PC at 5am and you don't want it to shutdown. You'll see a red icon in the taskbar indicating that Smart Shutdown is running:

Otherwise, it's completely seamless and you'll barely know it's there! You can always exit the program, but if you do, then your PC will not reboot until you run the program again.

Option 2: Scheduled Reboot with Task Scheduler 

This isn't much harder than Option 1, and it saves you the extra few megabytes of RAM.

• In the Smart Shutdown program, click the Settings menu and choose Global Options
• Choose the Mode tab
• Uncheck the box that says Start program with Windows/on logon

• Click OK
• From the drop-down box where it says Turn Off, select Reboot.
• Click the Set button
• Click the At... button
• In the box, type in 5:00AM (or whatever time you prefer)
• Check the Every Day box
• Click OK

At this point, the program will minimize itself to your taskbar. Right-click on the red icon in the taskbar that looks like:

Click on Action, then Exit. The icon will disappear from the taskbar as the program is unloaded from memory.

Next, we'll schedule the program. Click on the Start button and choose Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Scheduled Tasks. Double-click on the Add Scheduled Task icon to start the Scheduled Task Wizard.

Click Next, and the Wizard will show you a list of programs installed on your PC. Choose Smart Shutdown and click Next. Select the option for Daily and click Next. Set the time to shortly before the time you set in Smart Shutdown. For instance, I set it to reboot at 5AM, so I'm going to choose 4:50AM in this box. Make sure that Every Day is selected, then click Next. When it asks for a user, just click the Next button again. In the final box, check the option for Open advanced properties for this task..., then click Finish. If you get an Access Denied error here, don't worry about - click OK.

Now you'll see this box:

Check the option at the bottom for Run only if logged on. Click OK.

That's it! At 4:50AM, your PC will run the Smart Shutdown program. Ten minutes later, Smart Shutdown will reboot your PC. By 5:10AM at the very latest, your PC will be back in business.