Remotely Shut Down Your Computer With a Cell Phone

One of my favorite things to do with my cell phone, is to show my friends how it can shut down my computer. Better yet, set up on their computer, this is a cool trick to make others think that you have super powers.

You will need Microsoft Outlook configured with a POP3 E-Mail service (e.g. Yahoo, Google), a text to E-Mail service (e.g. Kwiry), and, obviously, a cell phone that can text. None of the steps are very complicated. It should take around 15 minutes for everything to be up and working.

1. Create a shutdown.bat file. Open Notepad and type c:\windows\system32\shutdown -s -f -t 00. Then, save it to your C drive for easy reference.
2. Set up a Kwiry account. This services forwards any text messages it receives from you to your cell phone.
3. Set up a rule in Outlook that will tell the computer to shutdown the computer. Go to Tools > Rules and Alerts. Then click, New Rule. Select “Start from a blank rule” and make sure it’s set to “Check messages when they arrive” and click Next. On the next page, check the box that says “with specific words in the subject line”. At the bottom of the window, click on the “specific words” link and it will allow you to enter the subject line that you want it to look for. Any message sent from Kwiry begins with “your kwiry -”. To make things simple, type “your kwiry – shutdown.” Click Add and OK. Then click Next. On the next page, select “start an application.” Click on the application link and find the shutdown.bat file on your C drive. In the browse box, change the search parameters from Applications (.exe.) to all file types. Then click Next and Finish.
4. Send a text message saying “shutdown” to Kwiry (59479). As soon as your Outlook E-Mail inbox refreshes and your message comes through, you computer will open the shutdown.bat file and begin to close your computer.

For a helpful video, visit Instructables.

I love this tutorial, because it truly shows the capabilities of today’s technology. Set up correctly, I can control my computer solely with my cell phone. Enjoy!