Closing an open program

[Turiya]

I'm making a program that shuts off if the computer is idle for one minute. I have an idea for this. Have a program that turns on when the computer is idle and shuts down the program I need to shut off. When the idle run program is shut off, it reloads the program.

I need to know how to shut down a program in operation.
I know how to start a program.

OR

I need to know how to detect if the computer is idle from VB

[RhinoBull]

... I need to know how to detect if the computer is idle from VB

You'd have to create a system wide hook.
For some nicely done sample visit www.vbaccelerator.com and browse that site.

Good luck.

[Turiya]

I'm having trouble finding the page I need. So if anyone is reading this thread please post an answer.

[|2eM!x]

if you dont wanna do that, just find the mouse x,y, and use a timer to see how long its been idle, then shutdown

[RhinoBull]

Nooooooooooooooo ... just detecting mouse position wouldn't do ... There is a keyboard, background processing, file download, file copy, etc etc etc ...

[Turiya]

It needs to be checking system idleness, not program idleness

[Turiya]

I found the page...and I only half get it. Can someone explain it to me

http://www.vbaccelerator.com/home/VB...ks/article.asp

[RhinoBull]

Turiya,
here is what I think and I apologize if you take it offencively: if your VB6 level of expertise is somewhat of a beginner then I'd recommend you to stay away from subclassing and hooking for awhile until you get a good understanding how it works (and not just understanding someone else's code - there is much more involved than that). Sorry.

My best regards.

[Turiya]

Then how else would I do it?
Remember what I need to know.
How to kill a program running if I know its path and caption and everything it does.

OR

How to detect idle time.

[moeur]

I don't think you can kill a process you didn't create.

[Turiya]

So there is NO WAY to close an open program?

[dglienna]

This code will kill an .exe, but it is not that easy to understand. The bottom line is how to call it.

Option Explicit
Const MAX_PATH& = 260
 
Declare Function TerminateProcess _
Lib "kernel32" (ByVal ApphProcess As Long, _
ByVal uExitCode As Long) As Long
Declare Function OpenProcess Lib _
"kernel32" (ByVal dwDesiredAccess As Long, _
ByVal blnheritHandle As Long, _
ByVal dwAppProcessId As Long) As Long
Declare Function ProcessFirst _
Lib "kernel32" Alias "Process32First" _
(ByVal hSnapshot As Long, _
uProcess As PROCESSENTRY32) As Long
Declare Function ProcessNext _
Lib "kernel32" Alias "Process32Next" _
(ByVal hSnapshot As Long, _
uProcess As PROCESSENTRY32) As Long
Declare Function CreateToolhelpSnapshot _
Lib "kernel32" Alias "CreateToolhelp32Snapshot" _
(ByVal lFlags As Long, _
lProcessID As Long) As Long
Declare Function CloseHandle _
Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hObject As Long) As Long
 
Private Type LUID
lowpart As Long
highpart As Long
End Type
 
Private Type TOKEN_PRIVILEGES
PrivilegeCount As Long
LuidUDT As LUID
Attributes As Long
End Type
 
Const TOKEN_ADJUST_PRIVILEGES = &H20
Const TOKEN_QUERY = &H8
Const SE_PRIVILEGE_ENABLED = &H2
Const PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS = &H1F0FFF
 
Private Declare Function GetVersion _
Lib "kernel32" () As Long
Private Declare Function GetCurrentProcess _
Lib "kernel32" () As Long
Private Declare Function OpenProcessToken _
Lib "advapi32" (ByVal ProcessHandle As Long, _
ByVal DesiredAccess As Long, _
TokenHandle As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function LookupPrivilegeValue _
Lib "advapi32" Alias "LookupPrivilegeValueA" _
(ByVal lpSystemName As String, _
ByVal lpName As String, _
lpLuid As LUID) As Long
Private Declare Function AdjustTokenPrivileges _
Lib "advapi32" (ByVal TokenHandle As Long, _
ByVal DisableAllPrivileges As Long, _
NewState As TOKEN_PRIVILEGES, _
ByVal BufferLength As Long, _
PreviousState As Any, _
ReturnLength As Any) As Long
 
Type PROCESSENTRY32
dwSize As Long
cntUsage As Long
th32ProcessID As Long
th32DefaultHeapID As Long
th32ModuleID As Long
cntThreads As Long
th32ParentProcessID As Long
pcPriClassBase As Long
dwFlags As Long
szexeFile As String * MAX_PATH
End Type
'---------------------------------------
Public Function KillApp(myName As String) As Boolean
Const TH32CS_SNAPPROCESS As Long = 2&
Const PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS = 0
Dim uProcess As PROCESSENTRY32
Dim rProcessFound As Long
Dim hSnapshot As Long
Dim szExename As String
Dim exitCode As Long
Dim myProcess As Long
Dim AppKill As Boolean
Dim appCount As Integer
Dim I As Integer
On Local Error GoTo Finish
appCount = 0
 
uProcess.dwSize = Len(uProcess)
hSnapshot = CreateToolhelpSnapshot(TH32CS_SNAPPROCESS, 0&)
rProcessFound = ProcessFirst(hSnapshot, uProcess)
Do While rProcessFound
I = InStr(1, uProcess.szexeFile, Chr(0))
szExename = LCase$(Left$(uProcess.szexeFile, I - 1))
If Right$(szExename, Len(myName)) = LCase$(myName) Then
KillApp = True
appCount = appCount + 1
myProcess = OpenProcess(PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS, False, uProcess.th32ProcessID)
If KillProcess(uProcess.th32ProcessID, 0) Then
'For debug.... Remove this
End If
 
End If
rProcessFound = ProcessNext(hSnapshot, uProcess)
Loop
Call CloseHandle(hSnapshot)
Exit Function
Finish:
MsgBox "Error!"
End Function
 
'Terminate any application and return an exit code to Windows.
Function KillProcess(ByVal hProcessID As Long, Optional ByVal exitCode As Long) As Boolean
Dim hToken As Long
Dim hProcess As Long
Dim tp As TOKEN_PRIVILEGES
 
 
If GetVersion() >= 0 Then
 
If OpenProcessToken(GetCurrentProcess(), TOKEN_ADJUST_PRIVILEGES Or TOKEN_QUERY, hToken) = 0 Then
GoTo CleanUp
End If
 
If LookupPrivilegeValue("", "SeDebugPrivilege", tp.LuidUDT) = 0 Then
GoTo CleanUp
End If
 
tp.PrivilegeCount = 1
tp.Attributes = SE_PRIVILEGE_ENABLED
 
If AdjustTokenPrivileges(hToken, False, tp, 0, ByVal 0&, ByVal 0&) = 0 Then
GoTo CleanUp
End If
End If
 
hProcess = OpenProcess(PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS, 0, hProcessID)
If hProcess Then
 
KillProcess = (TerminateProcess(hProcess, exitCode) <> 0)
' close the process handle
CloseHandle hProcess
End If
 
If GetVersion() >= 0 Then
' under NT restore original privileges
tp.Attributes = 0
AdjustTokenPrivileges hToken, False, tp, 0, ByVal 0&, ByVal 0&
 
CleanUp:
If hToken Then CloseHandle hToken
End If
 
End Function

KillApp ("barwr.exe")

You really should search for answers. If you work for them, they are worth more in the long run.