These examplesâand othersâcan be found in the Examples.alarm file which is installed in the Alarm++ installation folder. Or you can download the latest version.
Daily meeting for two weeks
Monday through Friday for two weeks: Repeat page and Advanced page
Westminster Chimes
Sound the Westminster Chimes of Big Ben every 15 minutes.
Download alarm file and Download sound files
Friday the 13th
The 13th. Only on Fridays. Repeat every month.
Check the local traffic web page before leaving work to go home
Every Monday through Friday: Repeat page and Application page
Back up your computer
Back up your computer every other Friday: Repeat page and Application page
Mute your computer at night
I don’t like to hear my computer beeping or playing sound files when I get e-mail during the night, so I use Alarm++ to start Steve Gibson’s Wizmo utility to mute it.
Open: wizmo.exe
Arguments: quiet mute=1
Then, in the morning, Alarm++ turns it on again.
Open: wizmo.exe
Arguments: quiet mute=0
Wake up to a CD in the morning
Every workday: Repeat page, Advanced, and Application page.
The cdplayer.exe utility no longer comes with Windows XP and later. Most versions of Windows support the Windows Media Player, and you can use wmplayer.exe /device:AudioCD. Microsoft’s Web site has documentation on the media player’s command line options.
Automatically download e-mail with Outlook
MS Outlook can be set to send/receive e-mail at a certain interval, but it can’t do it only on non-workdays or 3am and 3pm. Alarm++ can do this for you automatically with two alarms. Create one alarm to start Outlook whenever you want to download your e-mail. (You will need to configure Outlook to automatically send/receive e-mail.)
Open: outlook.exe
Create another alarm to go off 15 minutes (or half an hour or whatever) after the first alarmâwhenever you’re sure that Outlook is finishedâand have it start this script to exit Outlook.
Open: SampleOutlookExit.vbs
(I also use this to make sure that Outlook shuts down when I leave work because I access the same e-mail accounts at home.)
SampleOutlookExit.vbs
Track a UPS package
- Message: UPS tracking number (such as 1Z A72 28W 02 7232 539 0)
- Repeat every 8 hours
- Only on workdays (skip events on non-workdays; occur on the next event)
- E-mail to
totaltrack@ups.com
Similar alarm templates are set up for USPS, FedEx air, and FedEx ground.
Take your vitamins while at work
- Repeat every 8 hours
- Only on workdays (skip events on non-workdays; occur on the next event)
- Only between 8AM and 5PM
Vote in the U.S.
- Repeat every 12 months (presidential election: Repeat every 48 months)
- Only on Monday
- First week of the month
- Offset 1 day after
Daylight Saving Time start and end
Start (US): Second Sunday of March
End (US): First Sunday of November
Send a message to another person on the network
Open: net.exe
Arguments: send Julian_PC %name%: %message%
Open the same Web sites every morning
Open: SampleOpenWebSites.js
SampleOpenWebSites.js
Synchronize your computer’s time with another computer on the network
Open: net.exe
Arguments: time \\OtherComputer /set /yes
Use Microsoft Agent (such as Peedy) to animate and speak the reminder message
Open: SamplePeedy.vbs
Arguments: "You have a meeting at 10 o'clock."
Alternative arguments: â%message%â
SamplePeedy.vbs
Department meeting
The first Friday of every other month: Repeat page and Advanced page
Remember Mom’s birthday
Every year, one workday before March 29: General page and Repeat page
Remember to pay the mortgage
Three business days before the 1st of the month until it’s paid off in 2010: General page, Repeat page, and Advanced page
Pass arguments to a batch file
Open: SampleArguments.bat
Arguments: "%message%"
SampleArguments.bat
Start Word for Windows and write a status reportâŚ
Every Thursday: Repeat page and Application page
âŚthen automatically e-mail the status report to The Boss at 9:00pm
Sample batch file showing different ways to start an application
SampleWait.bat