e-Counter

e-Counter is a digital counter that comes with support for plenty of actions that can be performed when the time ends, including computer shutdowns and program launching.
It's almost impossible to get lost in the main window of the program, as everything's very simple and the whole design is focused on the counter per se.
In fact, you're not even allowed to do many things in this screen beside adjusting the countdown timer and the size of the font.
For more configuration options however, you need to go over to the settings menu where you shall discover a whole new and a bit less user-friendly world.
First of all, users are required to pick an action to be performed when the time ends, so you can play a sound, shut down the system, launch a program, display a text message, hibernate the PC, disconnect the Internet connection, lock workstations or play a Flash file.
Most of these options come with their very own settings, but also with a preview panel at the top of the window to see the way the selected effect is supposed to look.
A password-protection system is also available, thus blocking other users from accessing the application and pausing the counter. Configuration profiles can be saved and automatically launched at a later time.
e-Counter doesn't hamper system performance and it works smoothly on all Windows versions, without requiring administrator privileges on Windows 7 workstations. The only problem we've discovered during our test however concerns the shutdown feature, which may be blocked by the running processes, so a dedicated option that could force all apps to close could help a lot.
Overall, e-Counter is more than a decent software solution, offering not only an appealing look, but also plenty of settings to play with. Skin support is also available, so you can freely customize the look of the program.