guackyxxx

I have developed a script that I would like to run unattended in the middle of the night. The issue I am having is that all the PCs in our office are set so that they "lock" after a certain period of time. The PC then needs to be unlocked from the Windows "Computer Locked" application, by pressing CTRL-ALT-DEL and inputting user name and password. Any ideas as to how to get a script to carry out this unlocking sequence. I am willing to script the user name and password, I just need to get to that screen. I guess what I ma asking is whether I can send the CTRL-ALT-DEL combo to get to the point where I can unlock the system.

Thank you for the suggestion. Unfortunately, this is a shared PC and I cannot leave a script running (even in the background) all the time.

Help! I had a script that worked perfectly fine until our new security policy went into effect that requires all idle PCs to be automatically "locked" (CTRL-ALT-DEL and then the "Lock Computer" button) after a period of time. Since my script runs unattended at night, but relies on looking for Window title, etc., the fact that the PC locks up and presents the "Computer Locked" window on a blank screen prevents the script from running correctly. The AutoIt documentation says that I cannot simulate a CTRL-ALT-DEL combination to try to unlock the PC before runnign the screen, so I am out of ideas. Any suggestions?

Does anyone know whether the content of the Excel Status Bar can be tested? By the status bar, I mean the line at the bootm of the Excel screen that display messages such as "Ready", or "Opening (filename)". Its contents do not appear in Window Spy anywhere (as far as I can tell). My purpose in looking for the information in the status bar is in order to be able to tell when Excel has finished opening or saving a file, or when it is done with loading an Add-In or similar. I am trying to test for that "Ready" condition. Any thoughts?

Mmmm. Lots of suggestions. More info: 1. They are not compiled 2. The scripts essentially open up Excel files, and then download a bunch of security pricign data, do a bunch of calculations, and then close and save the updated Excel file. 3. I need to do this for three different excel files. 4. Each download, calculation, and save can take up to an hour. These are big files with tons of data and some fairly complex calcs. That is why I want to run this in the middle of the night when I am sound asleep! 5. Each script works fine. I have set up a "master script" that will invoke the other three in succession. I am now wondering if there should be some logic "between" each script that verifies whether the previous one had finished. My guess is that I do need that. But how? Do I test for the Microsoft Excel Window NOT to be active? Or should I look for the desktop? So many questions. So few answers.

Everyone: Thank you so much. These are all fantastic suggestions. Help is much appreciated. Your suggestions caused me to go back and revisit the problem, and I think I have foudn the solution, unrelated (sorry!) to the screensaver. Will be runnign tonight so we'll see. Thanks again for your help. I do need help with something: I'll post it on a new thread, but simply, here it is. If I want to run three scripts in succession, but do not want to consolidate them into one script, I assume the best way is to write a script that "calls" the other three scripts . . . ?

I am new to AutoIt3, and so please bear with me. I have been trying to run a script unattended overnight, using the Windows Scheduler tool. When I run the script to test it it works fine. But when I leave it unattended it doesn't work. I believe the issue could be the screensaver that kicks in. How do I turn off the screensaver as the first task of the script?