Gallery: Automate Windows by scheduling tasks

Scheduled Tasks are stored in a special folder that is accessible by opening the Start menu, clicking on All Programs and then selecting Accessories. When the Accessories list is displayed, select System Tools and then click Scheduled Tasks. Inside the Scheduled Tasks folder there may already be one or more entries placed there by programs previously installed on the PC. In this example there’s a software updater from Apple. Unwanted entries can be easily removed, if desired, by right-clicking the task icon and choosing Delete.

To keep a hard disk working efficiently it should be regularly defragmented, and this is a perfect candidate for task scheduling because it involves a lengthy procedure that is best performed when a computer is not otherwise in use. The program that does the hard work is called Defrag.exe, and the best time to run it is overnight. Here’s how to set it to run every Monday morning at 1am. Begin by double-clicking Add Scheduled Task in the Scheduled Tasks folder. This launches the Scheduled Task wizard.

Click the Next button and wait while the wizard examines Windows and displays a list of all the programs it can find, which may take some time. Defrag.exe is not listed but this isn’t a problem because the Browse button can be used to locate the program on disk. It lives in the system32 folder. Double-click My Computer, then C:, then Windows to find it. Then click to select Defrag.exe and then click the Open button.

In the Scheduled Task Wizard dialogue box, type a name for the task to replace the terse ‘defrag’ that has been assigned to it. ‘Weekly hard disk defrag’ is our suggestion. Also select how frequently the task should be performed, which in this case is weekly. On clicking Next, the wizard displays further options regarding the day of the week and the specific time that the program should be run. Select Monday, 01:00 and a frequency of ‘Every 1 weeks’, and then click Next.

You must now enter the name and password of a user. The program will run as if it had been started by that person. Your name (as the currently logged-on user) is automatically filled in, but if you are the computer’s administrator you can change this for any other user whose password you know. A scheduled task will not run at the assigned time unless a password is entered. When you’ve entered the password and confirmed it, press Next to continue.

The Scheduled Task wizard then displays a confirmation screen listing the name of the task and the schedule assigned to it (not shown). Tick the box labelled ‘Open advanced properties for this task when I click Finish’ and then click Finish. This displays the Properties dialogue box of the task you’ve just created, with the command C:\Windows\system32\defrag.exe in the Run section. Click this entry to edit it, then append a space followed by C:\ (as per our screenshot) in order to tell the program which drive to defragment. After clicking OK to complete the task definition, you’ll be asked to reconfirm the password and click OK.

At this stage the Scheduled Tasks folder is redisplayed with the newly created task added to it. To check that everything is OK and the task works as expected, right-click the task and select Run. This will open a Command window showing that Disk Defragmenter is running, and you’ll see the hard disk light of your PC flashing furiously. Once satisfied that the task is working properly, end it by clicking the X in the top right-hand corner of the Command window.

Provided you know a program’s name and location, it can be scheduled to start automatically in exactly the same way as Disk Defragmenter. For example, there is a program called Shutdown.exe that can be used to close down a computer at any specified time simply by running it. It can be found in the Windows\system32 folder. Set it up as you did Defrag.exe, but instead of selecting Weekly as the basis for the schedule, select One time only and click OK. You’ll then be asked to specify the exact date and time of the closedown.

As with Defrag.exe, additional instructions must be added to the Run line of Shutdown.exe before it will work properly. If -s (space, minus, s) is added, then the computer will shut down provided there are no running programs that require user confirmation before being closed. However, if -s -f (space, minus, s, space, minus, f) is added then the computer will close down regardless of what programs are running. A warning message will be displayed to anybody using the computer. Be careful to save any important files before testing this task!

To start a program and run it for only a limited period, the properties of the task can be modified. In the Scheduled Tasks folder, right-click on the task to be amended (in this case one called ‘Seed Torrent files’) and select Properties, then click the Settings tab. By default, all programs run for 72 hours but this can be changed to anything between one minute and 999 hours. The same tab includes options to run scheduled tasks only if the computer’s keyboard and mouse are idle at the designated time.

To start a program and run it for only a limited period, the properties of the task can be modified. In the Scheduled Tasks folder, right-click on the task to be amended (in this case one called ‘Seed Torrent files’) and select Properties, then click the Settings tab. By default, all programs run for 72 hours but this can be changed to anything between one minute and 999 hours. The same tab includes options to run scheduled tasks only if the computer’s keyboard and mouse are idle at the designated time.