I have a similar re-boot problem (win xp). The computer that uploads data to CWOP uses a dial-up connection that periodically locks up (once every couple of days or so). When this happens the computer must be re-booted. I've added two scheduled tasks to fix this problem:
1) Automatic reboot every 6 hours
2) Start the weather logging software on boot-up
To add the reboot task, first create a batch file (e.g. named restart.bat) at the root level of the main drive (typically C:). There are only two commands in this file:
shutdown -f -r -t 0
pause
This does a forceful reboot, killing any tasks that don't want to cooperate. When setting up this task, set it to run only if logged in and daily. Choose some time (e.g. 02:00 -- your choice). Then under the Task tab of task properties you can add more daily times (e.g. 8:00, 14:00, etc...).
Here's the tricky part -- you can only get this task to work if you have a password setup -- but the system won't automatically log you on if there is a password. Catch-22.
How do you get around that? Create a password before setting up the task. Then, after the task is setup and saved, go back and change your password to <blank> (nothing). It's kind of like Yossarian seeing two of everything
You also need to enable the welcome screen (control panel...user accounts...change the way users log on) and make sure the default login is an administrator account. Yes, there's security risks there but I think you have to put up with that for this to work.
Then I created another batch file to start the weather logging software. I used a "for" loop to execute the program multiple times in case it crashed during the 6-hour interval (that's optional -- probably not necessary). I rarely see any program crashes, but it's there just in case. I placed the batch file in the same directory as the logging software. Looks like this:
for %%i in ( 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ) do cmd /c <Weather program.exe>
where <Weather program.exe> is the name of your .exe file for weather logging program. I added another scheduled task that runs this file once at logon. Make sure you turn off the option to kill the task if it runs for more than some amount of time.
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Anyway, with this setup, my computer reboots 4 times a day and I never lose more than 6 hours of weather data at any one time. The computer (a cheap net-top) automatically powers up after a power failure. This has been a pretty reliable solution for me.
