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HACK: Shutting Windows Down... One Text Message at a Time

timmatheson.com — Cool work around hack to shut off your computer with a text message. Think of where you can take this too... the possibilities are endless.

Who dugg this? Made popular May 11, 2006

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  • sirsteveh, on 10/12/2007, -2/+23When you find a dead site, look for a mirror, don't complain. We noticed that it's down.

    http://www.duggmirror.com/technology/HACK:_Shutting_Windows_Down..._One_Text_Message_at_a_Time/

    EDIT: Looks like the guy a little way down the page beat me to the punch, but he posted even before you did.
  • knightblade2oo4, on 10/12/2007, -12/+31How to shut down Windows properly:

    1: grasp cord
    2: yank from outlet.

  • teh_toaster, on 10/12/2007, -1/+18Don't forget you can also use it to Start a program. Me, I regularly send a message from my cell phone to startup Counter-Strike and automatically join my favorite server. All while taking a dump. I've also used it to start the computer itself. By messaging another computer to start an app that send a Wake-On-Lan magic packet. All with a crappy $15 phone.
  • tsar04, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13i think the site is down, try this link:

    http://www.duggmirror.com/technology/HACK:_Shutting_Windows_Down..._One_Text_Message_at_a_Time/
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14so this means, whoever did this tutorial, I can email them to shut down their computer. sweet.
  • mfratt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7By "pc guys" do you mean "Windows guys?"

    Cause i can do that on linux.
  • mancat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Is your Macintosh not a "Personal Computer?"
  • MioTheGreat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7The ssh deamon running in the background on my XP machine would disagree. (Thank you, Cygwin.)
  • redxii, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Assuming I allow root to connect via ssh
  • Ferneaux, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but don't you have to be in the Admin group in WinXP and 2k to use the shutdown executable?

    Before even attempting this, I'd suggest you do the following as a test:
    - Click Start > Run > type "shutdown -f" (without the quotes) and click OK.

    If your machine shuts down, then this will work.....if nothing happens, you've got some other things to think about in order to get this working.

    (btw....there is also an OS X version of this floating around out there)
  • teh_toaster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4http://0tehtoaster.googlepages.com/sms_functions.rar

    Basically it is only a batch file that runs 'shutdown.exe -f'. Boring.

    shutdown.exe -t 30 -c "The bomb has been planted." Is slightly more fun.

    And really, you shouldn't need a batch file for most things. Oulook can accept command-line args just fine. mostly.
  • JasonHilton, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Dugg Mirror is the best thing ever.

    http://www.duggmirror.com/technology/HACK:_Shutting_Windows_Down..._One_Text_Message_at_a_Time/
  • kodek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Actually, in OS X, it'd be the same. One would set up a rule in Mail that excutes an AppleScript. And why use words like "stupid" that don't add any value to your comment? All you're doing is getting some people mad because of the way you express your opinion.
  • teh_toaster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Pluto can help you with that: http://www.digg.com/linux_unix/MythTV_Asterisk_Home_Secrity_and_more_=_PlutoHome_(TOTAL_FREE)
  • Hexxagonal, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3i vote for someone making a dongle or something to connect to your pc, so you can turn on/off your lights when you're away.
  • p9s50W5k4GUD2c6, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I need a separate text message just to get Microsoft Outlook to friggin exit! Nice post...
  • Tobey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Uh-huh... And how does Explorer.exe shut Windows down again?
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Yes, but after the commercialisation, there was something introduced to the world of web hosting called "ABUSIVELY OVERSELLING." This put into effect multiple restrictions to force you to not use your entire 10000000000GB space and 1000000000000TB bandwidth.
  • corrob44, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2maybe somone sent a text to the server that was hosting the article
  • PathDaemon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3> Assuming I allow root to connect via ssh

    It's called sudo...
  • chesterjosiah, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Very clever indeed, but now how can we START a computer by sending it a text message? ;-)
  • Jonny5alive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Shuting Down your site one Digg effect at a time....
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2You also have to have admin rights to do this. Any admin worth his weight in poo won't let you run as admin. Actually, any admin worth his poo would probably have a domain controller pushing group policy to disallow any sort of activity like that, and not be running a haphazard "workgroup" network.
  • baijubawra, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2you're correct, shutdown cmd requires admin (or power users?) privileges so this wouldn't work for users logged on using a non-admin account. The runas command also wouldn't in this automated shutdowns as it prompts you for the password and there is no other way around it. So only thing that can be done is to write a custom application which uses CreateProcessWithLogonW API (link to API documentation:
    http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dllproc/base/createprocesswithlogonw.asp)


    bb
  • thetaco82, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5If I was a spammer, I would start sending out "smsshutdown%%" emails just to be an ass.
  • blather, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3I literally had that ready to paste. Nice. :P
  • Double-Z, on 10/12/2007, -6/+7+Digg. Thanks for the tip, this could be useful!
  • fifaigor, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Only 36 diggs right now and the link is already down! :( The title sounds interesting though.
  • digitalme, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1That would be the report button next to the article.
  • selphishnerd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1yea don't show this to your friends, they'll start sending some "friendly" emails...

    can you make a rule in outlook that only applies to certain senders? maybe i just didnt read enough of the article...
  • daveddd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Digg effect in conjunction with a crappy webhost
  • jasqwerty, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4LOL, that's what happens when you let a secure OS be used by idiots. Allowing root to remotely log in = FAIL
  • jgee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1on the server side, server's CPU, he is using too many cycles.
  • mirunit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The webserver that host the site, whoevers account it is, the server was demanding a higher % of cpu time than it was allowed.
  • fkuall, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1really really really easy to do in gaim
  • zone, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2http://ask-leo.com/is_there_a_way_to_shutdown_my_headless_windows_xp_pro_machine_remotely.html

    not as pretty but it does the trick.. anyway, that was not the point. too bad it uses outlook.
  • vsLAN, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I would not use it for the 'shutdown' feature, unless you want to.. then I would deffently change the subject line to something ONLY you know, so your PC just doesnt shut down on you from some hacker or what ever. But it is usefull to me for setting my program I must commonly set or have running while im away, such as BitComet, Abyss Webserver, and more...

    I dont know why this was taken off the front page, but I think it deserves to be recongnized.. but not as turning off your computer.

    -LarryM.net //
  • panique, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3This is like totally obvious. I don't see what everyone out here is creaming themselves over.
  • nstern2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Um no that just shuts down explorer. if yo do a run explorer it will come back up. You sir don't know what you are talking about.
  • gamerzworld, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1any one have the download he posted?
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2LAME.

    You can do this same thing with PSShutdown by Sysinternals anywhere you have access to a command prompt. But I'll give him credit for the, erm, interesting use of Outlook.
  • Tobey, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2A little thing called X10 can do that.
  • kirkio, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1you can only do that if you have permissions.
    (sorry. we duped each other's comment at the same time)
  • vsLAN, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1All you have to do, if your smart, is just rename the 'smsshutdown%%.bat' to something that only you know, then only you can send that line of text in your sms to your email address.

    It also can be set for many other things besides shutting down the computer, like starting your torrents if you forget to start them before you leave for work... etc..Just by specifying in the bat-file. This is good for many things.

    One thing, I havent been able to find if it works for Outlook Explorer yet, because it does not have the import feature.

    -LarryM.net
  • MHZmaster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This is hella expensive, but it sounds like what you're looking for:

    http://www.cyberguys.com/templates/searchdetail.asp?T1=104+0182&dept=&search=&child=
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Which command switch allows you to shut down windows using explorer.exe?

    lol, idjut.
  • whalesalad, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Oh yeah I forgot, all the computers at my school could run command prompt and all the net commands...
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0When I run this it just logs me out then stops
  • singularity77, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Does anyone else find it funny that Otter(Tim Matheson) from Animal House is giving me computer tips?

    http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001513/
  • PCDirect, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I was thinking the same thing. Only thing is, I am not a hacker, but was wondering how many people are going to start spamming with that subject.

    If you are thinking of doing this:

    Rule #1 - Change the freakin subject line to something a little more obscure
    Rule #2 - (See Rule #1)

    I can't wait for next weeks Digg on how people followed the directions and now are getting their systems shut down by spammers. : )

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