I am a big supporter of the “shut it down” concept. If you’re not using an electrical device, and this includes computers, then you need to shut it down. By using only the energy you need, by not being wasteful, you are showing your support for the environment – and you are taking it easy on your budget, by not paying for wasted energy.

The thing is that sometimes you’ll have to leave the computer running because it performs a task – it is for example downloading something off the internet. For Firefox users there’s an add-on that will take care of this problem by automatically shutting down the computer when a download is complete. The add-on is called Auto Shutdown and is available for download straight from the official Firefox Add-ons site – just click here .

Here are the features of Auto Shutdown, as detailed by InBasic, the add-on’s developer:

• Executing user scripts after all downloads are finished or computer is idle for specific time
  
• Play sound after each/All downloads are finished
  
• Restore Firefox from last session
  
• Customizable shutdown/idle scripts
  
• Supporting DownThemAll

In keeping with the eco-friendly theme we’ve got going on here, I would like to mention SmartSleep. SmartSleep is a piece of software that you can use free of charge on your Windows-powered PC and easily automate and schedule shutdown operations. Check out a detailed review of what SmartSleep has to offer here. If you would like to get SmartSleep, download it here.

If you want to download a lot of content off the web, then I suggest you use a 3rd party download accelerator and manager. I am familiar with two such software applications that you can use free of charge on your Windows-powered computer: FlashGet (review here – download link here) and Get Go (review here – download link here)