Configuration

To configure TPC, use tray menu, or click the Configuration image in the main window:

General

Start with Windows - allows you to specify autorun option and where to store settings.

Don't show Power Plans - if checked, all the buttons, images and menus connected with power plans will be removed from user interface. If you don't use power plans, you can check it to simplify interface. As Windows XP doesn't work with power plans, this checkbox is always checked, and it is optional for Vista and Windows 7 users.

Don't show battery charge information - disable battery monitoring, used in desktop computers without UPS. Default logo will be shown. It is possible to replace it with any 346x56 pixel image, just save it as skin_logo.jpg and put it to the tpc.exe folder.

Hide main window when using Red Power Button - if checked, the main window will automatically hide when you click Red Power Button to show Power menu. When unchecked, the main window will not be hidden automatically.

Command line for tray icon double click. Single click on the tray icon is defined to show or hide main TPC window, but you can also select a custom action for double click. You can run any application or use any TPC power feature, for example "tpc turnscreenoff" will turn off screen when you double click the tray icon. Leave this field blank if you don't need any double click action.

Power Plans

This tab allows you to select three favorite power plans to show in the main window. You can select any power plans, including your custom power plans. To do it, click "Update available plans table" button and you should see all power plans in the bottom table. Select any power plan, click right mouse button and select "Set as favorite power plan 1(2,3)", and this plan will take its place in the upper table. You can edit its name in the table, however, the new name will be only used by TPC (Windows will use old name). It is not recommended to edit GUIDs, but if you can't see a power plan in the bottom table for some reason, you can enter it here manually.

Screenshots

To access screenshot menu, click right mouse button on the tray icon and select "Screenshot menu". To specify hotkeys for creating screenshots, use "tpc jpgscreenshot" to create a jpg screenshot or "tpc bmpscreenshot" to create a bmp screenshot. It's not a command line, it's just a trick for HotKey manager, so you can select any key combination to save screenshots quickly!

Default folder for screenshots - this folder will be used if you save screenshots without confirmations.

File name datetime formatted - you can add date and time to file name in desired format. It is used to make different file names when you need to create a sequence of screenshots without confirmations. Please note that simple text should be wrapped in single or double quotes. Default value for this field generates files like

Screenshot-20100215-105231345.jpg

Which is 15-Feb-2010, 10:52:31 and 345 milliseconds. Milliseconds are recommended if you are going to create several screenshots every second, otherwise one and the same file will be overwritten. The default template for it is:

"ScreenShot-"yyyymmdd-hhnnsszzz

You can use the following codes to create date and time:

Pre-capture time - this is a delay to allow Windows hide menus or confirmation dialog box before the screen is captured. Windows 7 doesn't hide windows immediately, it has a fade-out effect, and if you don't need it on your screenshots, you should set a pre-capture delay. 300-500 milliseconds is OK for fast computers, and you need to increase this value if you still see unwanted artefacts on your screenshots.

JPG quality - set the quality for JPEG files, the higher the value is , the larger the resulting file becomes.

Screenshot timer - set the value in seconds and the first screenshot will be created after that time. If you create a sequence of screenshots, this value is also used to specify the interval of time between screenshots.

Execute timer N times - allows you to create a sequence of screenshots. You can stop the timer before all screenshots are created using tray icon menu, screenshot submenu, "Stop timer" command.

Autosave screenshots - if checked, TPC will create file names automatically, otherwise a confirmation window will be showed to select a folder and a file name for every screenshot.

Remote Control

Start server automatically - the remote control will be turned on automatically any time TPC starts.

Port - select any unused port for your http server. Recommended ports are: 80, 8000, 8888, 8080...

Username and Password - you need to enter this information any time you connect to your TPC remote control.

Start - starts the server.

Stop - stops the server.

Test (localhost) - allows you to test the server using local IP (=localhost). If the server is not visible locally, it is quite possible that your firewall software blocks it and you need to add and exception for TPC. To do it, read the manual for your firewall. When your server works, you should see something like this:

If you see the server locally but don't see in from internet, you should also check your firewall settings and verify that you specified correct IP to address your server.

Timer / CPU Idle

CPU idle threshold - defines the maximum CPU usage for idle state. If the CPU usage is below this value, TPC will think that the system is idle. This value is used by TPC Timer to check if the system is idle.

CPU measurement mode - TPC supports two modes - Average and Peak. If Average is selected, TPC will calculate average CPU load during the test period. When Peak is selected, TPC will use the maximum CPU load that was observed during the test period. Both modes have advantages and disadvantages and should be more or less useful in different circumstances. For example, when observing WinRAR backup work, it's clear that the CPU usage is always more than 50% and the Average mode can be used to find out the moment when WinRAR finishes it's work, as the average idle state for most computers is 1-3% CPU usage, much less than 50%. However, when dealing with database software, the average CPU load may be as low as during the idle state, but rare database requests may result in short CPU usage increase which can be easily seen in Peak mode, thus giving more appropriate results. The disadvantage of the Peak mode is that Windows is always doing something and it's difficult to find ideal peak value: if it's too high, TPC won't notice sluggish but useful activity and if it's too low, the system will never meet the idle state requirements (or it will take a long time!). It is also important to understand that various antivirus, defrag, backup, etc software may turn on automatically when the system is idle and spoil the whole thing. Before using TPC CPU Idle meter for serious things it is recommended to use CPU-Meter window to observe average and peak values in idle state (when the computer is not used) and add 3-5% to these values to be sure.

See the picture and this is an example: after 20 seconds of measurement TPC found that the average CPU load during idle state was 3% and the peak CPU load was 8%. So the safe values are 3+3=6% if you are going to use Average mode and 8+3=11% if you are going to use Peak mode.

Test period - this is a period in seconds to calculate average and peak values. 20-30 seconds should be a good value in most cases. In difficult cases, when it's hard to notice useful activity as the CPU usage is close to the idle state, you should increase the test period and use Peak mode to save TPC Timer from wrong activation.

Timer max away time - this value is used to determine if the delayed Timer tasks should be executed if the execution time happens to be in the past (for example, when the computer was off at that time). The value is specified in minutes. For example, the execution time was 16:00, the computer was off at that time, now it is 18:00 and the computer is turned on. If maxaway is less than 120 minutes (2 hours), the task will be canceled and if maxaway value is higher than 120, the task will be executed. Maxaway parameter is supposed to cover time for unexpected reboot, i.e. 3-5 minutes is the recommended minimum for this value. The value 0 means that the old timer will be disabled as soon as TPC is started. If you need to run this task no matter what, there is a checkbox "If computer was not running at specified time, execute task at first restart after" in the TPC Timer window and it overrides the maxaway value unless maxaway=0.

HotKeys

Hotkeys are combinations of keyboard keys that allow you to run any Windows application or command file even when TPC window is not visible. To specify hotkeys for creating screenshots, use "tpc jpgscreenshot" to create a jpg screenshot or "tpc bmpscreenshot" to create a bmp screenshot. It's not a command line, it's just a trick for HotKey manager, so you can select any key combination to save screenshots quickly!

Assign key codes here - click this field and press a combination of keys. This combination should contain at least one CTRL, ALT or SHIFT key, or you may use them all, for example, CTRL-ALT-Q or CTRL-SHIFT-F1. Unfortunately, this field cannot catch WIN key and some specific keys, but you can specify them as Mod and Vk parameters manually (see below).

Mod and Vk fields are used to set up hotkeys manually, don't use them if you don't know the correct key codes. Correct Modifiers are:

ALT = 1;

CONTROL = 2;

SHIFT = 4;

WIN = 8;

The combinations are calculated automatically using "Assign key codes here" field, however, if you need WIN key, you should calculate manually. This is simple. Only WIN key means the Mod is 8, CTRL+WIN means Mod is 2+8=10, CTRL+ALT+WIN means Mod is 1+2+8=11, SHIFT+WIN means Mod is 4+8=12... Now you can calculate Modifiers.

Vk is a virtual code of a key. Simple key codes should be assigned using "Assign key codes here" field. If this field doesn't catch the required key, try looking it in the table below. Some of them will not work, but you don't lose anything if you try (don't forget to click "Add" and "OK" to actualize hotkeys.

{ Virtual Keys, Standard Set }

LBUTTON = 1;

RBUTTON = 2;

CANCEL = 3;

MBUTTON = 4; { NOT contiguous with L & RBUTTON }

XBUTTON1 = 5;

XBUTTON2 = 6;

BACK = 8;

TAB = 9;

CLEAR = 12;

RETURN = 13;

SHIFT = $10;

CONTROL = 17;

MENU = 18;

PAUSE = 19;

CAPITAL = 20;

KANA = 21;

HANGUL = 21;

JUNJA = 23;

FINAL = 24;

HANJA = 25;

KANJI = 25;

CONVERT = 28;

NONCONVERT = 29;

ACCEPT = 30;

MODECHANGE = 31;

ESCAPE = 27;

SPACE =32;

PRIOR = 33;

NEXT = 34;

END = 35;

HOME = 36;

LEFT = 37;

UP = 38;

RIGHT = 39;

DOWN = 40;

SELECT = 41;

PRINT = 42;

EXECUTE = 43;

SNAPSHOT = 44;

INSERT = 45;

DELETE = 46;

HELP = 47;

{ 0 thru 9 are the same as ASCII '0' thru '9' ($30 - $39) }

{ A thru Z are the same as ASCII 'A' thru 'Z' ($41 - $5A) }

LWIN = 91;

RWIN = 92;

APPS = 93;

SLEEP = 95;

NUMPAD0 = 96;

NUMPAD1 = 97;

NUMPAD2 = 98;

NUMPAD3 = 99;

NUMPAD4 = 100;

NUMPAD5 = 101;

NUMPAD6 = 102;

NUMPAD7 = 103;

NUMPAD8 = 104;

NUMPAD9 = 105;

MULTIPLY = 106;

ADD = 107;

SEPARATOR = 108;

SUBTRACT = 109;

DECIMAL = 110;

DIVIDE = 111;

F1 = 112;

F2 = 113;

F3 = 114;

F4 = 115;

F5 = 116;

F6 = 117;

F7 = 118;

F8 = 119;

F9 = 120;

F10 = 121;

F11 = 122;

F12 = 123;

F13 = 124;

F14 = 125;

F15 = 126;

F16 = 127;

F17 = 128;

F18 = 129;

F19 = 130;

F20 = 131;

F21 = 132;

F22 = 133;

F23 = 134;

F24 = 135;

NUMLOCK = 144;

SCROLL = 145;

LSHIFT = 160;

RSHIFT = 161;

LCONTROL = 162;

RCONTROL = 163;

LMENU = 164;

RMENU = 165;

BROWSER_BACK = 166;

BROWSER_FORWARD = 167;

BROWSER_REFRESH = 168;

BROWSER_STOP = 169;

BROWSER_SEARCH = 170;

BROWSER_FAVORITES = 171;

BROWSER_HOME = 172;

VOLUME_MUTE = 173;

VOLUME_DOWN = 174;

VOLUME_UP = 175;

MEDIA_NEXT_TRACK = 176;

MEDIA_PREV_TRACK = 177;

MEDIA_STOP = 178;

MEDIA_PLAY_PAUSE = 179;

LAUNCH_MAIL = 180;

LAUNCH_MEDIA_SELECT = 181;

LAUNCH_APP1 = 182;

LAUNCH_APP2 = 183;

Caption is used as a reminder, you can edit it to add a description if you like.

Command is used to specify any executable or command file with or without parameters. For example, use "tpc screensaver" to run a screensaver or "tpc shutdown" to turn the PC off. More TPC commands are here.

Add, Update, Delete buttons - this is all understandable. To fill the form using the values from the table, double click on any non-empty line of the table.

Examples:

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