You can remotely shut down your computer from anywhere in the world using any cell phone with texting capabilities and Mozilla Thunderbird, a Mac, or Microsoft Outlook. It’s pretty simple to accomplish and the video above guides you through the step by step setup process.
Outstanding Cell Phone Hacks:
- How to Use the iPhone as a Wireless Router for your Laptop
- Use email to send texts for AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, Virgin, & more
- Subscribe via email or RSS for more outstanding hacks.










November 17th, 2008
Its Cooll
November 22nd, 2008
haha i tried this…looks like it might of worked but i have outlook express and it does not have the option to “start application” which i think is in step four…so close…yet so far! but definatly cool trick. If anyone has any hacks to include this option please let me know!
November 28th, 2008
Haha, that’s really clever. Never thought of that.
@Larry: Try installing a proper client, like Mozilla Firebird or Microsoft Office Outlook.
December 12th, 2008
i cant make an account on microsoft outlook. it cant log onto outgoing server. how do i fix it?
December 12th, 2008
Ummm…Did you set up the email client correctly to work with your account?
December 25th, 2008
Cool stuff 2 know
January 9th, 2009
Wouldn’t it be easier to just text your email account and skip kwiry all together?
January 28th, 2009
hmmm….well…try it a different way? downgrade to xp or wait until windows 7?
February 19th, 2009
plzz email me cool and easy hacks,.thnx
March 16th, 2009
Not sure if this will work. I will have to watch it a couple more times and try it out. I am wondering if I send you a e-mail with that subject line or even e-mail pop3 packet shaping to accomplish this I could just randomly shutdown your computer. So if you do this don’t tell your friends
March 24th, 2009
When you setup your rule be sure and add a rule to only use your number, if your an AT&T customer when you send your email address a text message it comes from “YourCell#@txt.at&t.net” if you set this as part of your rule you would not have to worry about anyone other then your number shutting your computer down.
April 10th, 2009
Thanks a million for sharing this.
July 16th, 2009
neat, turn back on with a text, then ill be impressed xD
January 5th, 2010
yes, I suppose you could do that.
January 6th, 2010
Just tried this today (1/6/10). This service is apparently shut down. The notice I received from the feedback-email address is the service was sold and there are no published plans to bring it back to life. Nice try.
January 10th, 2010
I’m with you Larry- I have Outlook Express and it was quite disappointing to get all the way to the end and realize that “Start Application” was not an option for creating a new rule…
I think I’ll still use it at work to wake my computer up when I’m coming back from lunch, or a meeting, etc… Could be cool.
January 18th, 2010
Hey, pretty cool job man, I’ve never thought of using my outlook like this even after 6 years MS experties. You open a new window for me. Thanks
January 24th, 2010
nice it worked but there are few countries in which kwiry account aren’t available…. but i figured out a way to do it
February 1st, 2010
Yup, you can just email your account directly.
You’ll have to change the conditions of the rule set up in Outlook, of course.
Saves having to use kwiry.
February 1st, 2010
anybody know how to do this in thunderbird?
February 16th, 2010
You can use just Outlook and Gmail to set it up, you can see how in this video:
http://www.veryangrytoad.com/video/673/Shutdown-your-computer-using-your-cell-phone
Only make the shutdown.bat file the way it is in this video, c:\windows\system32\shutdown -s -f -t 00
May 28th, 2010
Pretty sure you can’t do this with thunderbird. There’s no option to set a rule to start a program in it, or at least none that I can find.
May 28th, 2010
I dont have outlook express but have windows mail, My os dont allow me to install outlook express, There is no option in windows mail to run an applicalion! can anybody inform me about an alternative software for outlook express please.
May 28th, 2010
Hmmm…there’s gotta be a way to do it without use outlook express. Surprising that Thunderbird doesn’t have the option.
September 29th, 2010
This worked! Lol. I already use Outlook at work so I bypassed the setting up Gmail account and just went straight to adding the new rule and etc. I didn’t have to enter a diff. port number.
Awesome!
March 30th, 2011
You can use Thunderbird to do this. Just download Mailbox Alert add-on. Then create another sub-folder for filtered e-mails. Create a new filter with detailed information and have the e-mails moved into that folder. Click on the sub-folder you want to create an alert. Then going into TOOLS/MAILBOX ALERT PREFERENCES, configure the file you want executed every time a new e-mail is moved into that folder.