Things that your computer can do as it shuts down

This is the first time I talk about anything technical, but I'm going to make an exception for something that I'm quite proud of.   On Windows XP, you can initiate the shutdown process from a batch file. And this batch file can become your shutdown script. For instance:

• update the antivirus
  
• trigger a backup of important files
  
• defragment the hard disk
  
• shutdown -s -t 20 -c "Script completed, shutting down."
  

This has proven quite useful, as these shutdown tasks now get always executed, and they can take as much time as they need, as the computer is shutting itself down anyway.