I discovered the Windows Power Shell from Microsoft. This command line shell is absolutely a must-have for any serious IT professional. I've been playing with it a couple of days and the type of information you can get is amazing. A nice touch is that you can use most common *nix/Linux commands as well (Microsoft created a set of aliases for those). Check the Windows Powershell homepage for downloads and documentation. It's on the Windows 2003 Server section, but they have a version that runs on XP and Vista as well.

From the Microsoft site:

Microsoft Windows PowerShell command line shell and scripting language helps IT Professionals achieve greater productivity. Using a new admin-focused scripting language, more than 130 standard command line tools, and consistent syntax and utilities, Windows PowerShell allows IT Professionals to more easily control system administration and accelerate automation. Windows PowerShell is easy to adopt, learn, and use, because it works with your existing IT infrastructure and existing script investments, and because it runs on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server “Longhorn”. Exchange Server 2007, System Center Operations Manager 2007, System Center Data Protection Manager V2, and System Center Virtual Machine Manager leverage Windows PowerShell to improve efficiency and productivity.

EDIT: This Microsoft site has a nice collection of sample scripts to get you started.

That doesn't work on my version of XP (XP Pro, SP2). I can't drag and create a link for the Run... entry. However, you can press [WIN] + R to show the Run Dialog. Or you can use Fixed Run Dialog.

i've suspected this 'never off' syndrome for a while so i have several multi socket thingies that have their own on/off switches for each socket. it makes it a lot easier to control what's on/off then as you don't have to physically pull the plug - just flick the switch.

-nudone (February 22, 2007, 02:16 PM)

Well I was just wondering about that. I also use socket extensions with a switch and if you still have the meter, I wonder if you could measure between the wall socket and the multi-socket extension to see if power is still being drained or not (with the switch 'off' of course).