Wouldn’t it be great if menial tasks could be automated without any manual interference on your PC? We show you how.
Automation has been possible on mobile devices running Android and iOS for a long time using IFTTT. If This, Then That is an automation tool that allows users to create notifications to a granular level such as uploading photos to other social media when the same photo is posted to Facebook, or even sending you alerts when mobile apps are on sale.
Ellp does the same but for your Windows PC. Essentially, the software taps into Windows processes to serve you warnings and notifications for several tasks. The tool is still in beta but we didn’t come across any software breaking bug that breaks the software. All the tasks can be automated using cards just like IFTTT. For now, we are only restricted to preset cards that the developers have added. However, once the developers allow users to create custom cards, the true potential of the tool can be utilised. At the time of writing this article, there were 40 cards present spread across four main categories including Productivity, Performance, Security and Entertainment. We’ll be going through the most useful ones that you’re likely to enable on your system. These cards will ensure that you save those extra and repetitive little steps. You can download Ellp here.
SCHEDULE A SHUTDOWN FOR YOUR PC
Instead of having to manually shut down your PC before going to sleep, you can automate this in Ellp. The card is listed under “Productivity”. You can set the appropriate time to turn off your PC. Other than the shutdown command, this card also supports Sleep, Hibernate and Restart. This can also act as a deterrent if you’re wasting too much time doing nothing on your PC late night.
OPEN YOUR FAVOURITE APPS WHEN PLUGGING IN YOUR HEADPHONES
When you’re plugging in your headphones, it’s most likely because you’re going to either play some music or watch a movie. If you’re among the ones who plugin when it’s time for music, this card will be useful to you. Although there are dedicated cards for Spotify, YouTube, Skype, etc., you can use the generic card to assign your preferred application. Here, you’ll be able to launch up to 10 applications whenever you plug in your headphones. It doesn’t make sense for regular use cases but if you’re a music producer, then you would be dealing with a set of applications simultaneously where this feature would be beneficial.
DOWNLOAD IMAGES YOU’RE TAGGED ON FACEBOOK
If you’re social, chances are that you might be clicking a lot of pictures and being clicked as well. You’ll obviously have the photos that you have clicked but sometimes it’s a pain asking for the pictures from last night’s party for over a month. With this card under “Entertainment”, you can automatically have all the photos, where you’re tagged on Facebook, downloaded in your PC. All you need to do is sign into Facebook once through Ellp and assign the location where you want to save your photos.
LAUNCH YOUR FAVOURITE APPLICATION AFTER TURNING ON YOUR PC
After switching on your PC, there has to be one or more applications that you start up every time. Of course, there are many which automatically launch after a Windows startup but there are a few that don’t. You might have also disabled automatic startup since they tend to slow down the overall Windows startup. For such scenarios, this card will let you select a maximum of 10 applications following a Windows startup. This could include your web browser, music player, or any daily application.
BONUS:
NOTIFY WHEN THE ISS FLIES ABOVE YOU
Yes, you can actually enable a card that will notify you whenever the International Space Station (ISS) flies above your area. Head over to the Entertainment category and then select the card to turn it on. As mentioned inside the card, since the ISS orbits around the Earth about 15.5 times every day, there are chances that you might be able to spot it in the night sky.
The article was first published in the November 2017 issue of the Digit magazine. Click here to subscribe.
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Abhijit Dey
A Star Wars fan and sci-fi enthusiast. When I'm not playing games on my PC, I usually lurk around the Internet, mostly on Reddit. View Full Profile
