Scheduling Automatic Downloads for BSNL

the best service provider in INDIA provides for unlimited download hours very conveniently between 2AM and 8AM so that he is not overloaded as every indian generally sleeps at that time. but here is our tutorial to beat this. this tutorial helps in configuring your computer for an unmanned operation to download anything you want between the happy hours without having to intervene at any point of time. all you need is a compatible motherboard, a download manager with scheduler option(loading at startup) or any torrent application(also loading at startup) and a BSNL connection. that's all:)

Please note that this tutorial is explained for a WINDOWS based operating system. i've no idea on the other operating system. anyone who can help out our friends with similar tutorial for other operating system are free to do so or mail me the same.

first..u need to check if ur motherboard has an option of wake up by alarm .. u can check out in the bios setup.. when u get the flash screen of ur mother board initially when the system boots, u will have the option of entering the setup(generally using F2 or Del key or F1).. there in power menu, u will be able to find this option if u hv gotta comparitively new system...here u can set ur system to boot up all by itself at a specified time, say by 2AM... u just have to keep the power supply to ur cpu in ON state but need not switch on the pc...

if u dont have this option, tthe other option is to use scheduler to wake it up..we'll come on to this a little later..

second step: u need to create batch file to dial ur connection(in case u r using a dialer to connect.if its direct connection, ignore this step.but believe me, using a direct connection to internet with limited plan is very risky in case u get affected by a spyware or something. for info on how to use a dialer to dial the connection, contact 18004241600).. open notepad and type the following in new file:

rasdial "1" 2 3

-1- type the name of ur connection(generally ppl prefer having it as bsnl or dataone.it's basically whatever u gave)..

-2- its the userid u have on ur dialer..something like rah858_hyd or something...just type it as u have given in the dialer..

-3- the password for ur connection.don't worrry its safe though u type in plain letters..no 1 can misuse it on bsnl domain..

ultimately the line wil look something like this if your connection name is BSNL, user id is rah858_hyd and password is stno33

rasdial BSNL rah858_hyd stno33

save this file as "connect.bat" .. ensure the extension is .bat .. filename can b anything..and remember where u saved this file..

one more batch file u can create with following code and save as "shutdown.bat" :

shutdown -s -t 60 -c "Shutting down to save bandwidth"

this command will shut down ur computer with a 60 secs count down... u can increase or decrease the time as u wish.. (ref.http://www.computerhope.com/shutdown.htm)

third step:u need to schedule to run these batch files. use scheduled taks in ur computer. click add scheduled task... give the job a name.. select the "connect.bat" file u just created.. schedule to run it around 2.10 am everyday(as a safety precaution so that u dont login early and get charged)... then open its advanced properties... give the password of ur user in case u have multiple user accounts on ur system or check the box saying "run only if logged on".. then in the second tab above, u will have the option of repeating the task... just ensure to repeat the task every half an hour or something..this is because at times i found my net disconnected due to some server problem and was never reconnected.. note that repeating this task even when its connected does not affect the connection...

similarly schedule another task to run the "shutdown.bat" file at around 7.45 AM(this time is also for safety precaution only).. in case u don't want the system to shutdown, u can just use the following command to disconnect and wait for further action manually:

rasdial /disconnect

voila... here is ur system that boots up all by itself and connects to internet and disconnects and shuts down without u intervening..

the next step is very simple.. schedule ur downloads using a download manager or if ur using torrents, use torrent client to download between the specific time... and u r done...

if u couldn't find the option of wake up on alarm, then in the scheduled tasks of ur "connect.bat" job, u will have the option of wake up to run the task or something like that...thats the last check box on the advanced properties first tab page....just click that... now every night before u r off to sleep, u need to ensure ur system is either hibernated or in stand by mode and not shut down.. if the system is shut down, then this task of waking up to run the scheduled task wont work....

if you've got any specific problems on the scheduling, feel free to mail me at manish.murthy+blog@gmail.com

p.s: u will find a lot of stuff available on torrents--movies,softwares,serials.. u name it and u get it.. its the best for getting stuff from internet at excellent speeds.. to know more about torrents, check out my previous post.. it is for all newcomers into the torrent world.. but mind u.. if u gonna use torrent unscheduled during daytime, it s going to eat up all ur bandwitdth in a day or two.. be very careful on this...