Manually running PC maintenance software to repair and refresh your computer can be a time consuming task, and something which most users will forget to run. There is a simpler way to run just about any action using Microsoft’s own Task Scheduler.
A great many Windows users don’t use, or perhaps haven’t even heard of, the Task Scheduler which is a pity as it is a great little utility for automating all manner of tasks. Each Windows PC that I use currently has automated tasks to de-fragment drives, clean up the hard disk and check for any disk error on a regular basis.
The following step-by-step guide goes through the process of de-fragment a hard drive on a weekly basis using the task scheduler. The steps detailed here are for Windows XP but are quite similar on Vista and Windows 7.
– Run the Task Scheduler by selecting the Windows Start button – Control Panel and clicking on the Task Scheduler icon. The Create Task Wizard will open with a splash page. Click Next.
– Next is the application selection page. For the sake of this example, hit the Browse button and type in defrag.exe in the file name text box (that is the file name of Microsoft’s Disk Defragment tool). If a file not found error is displayed then you will need to enter the path to the application file, in which case it can be found in the \windows\system32\ folder on your C-drive. Click Ok.
– The scheduling page has timing options for running the application along with a task name entry (use a descriptive name). For disk de-fragmentation, running it once a week is best practice. Click Next.
– More timing option at a more granular level are shown (start time, etc). It is best to pick a time when you are sure the PC will be switched on. A good suggestion is to schedule the task to run during a lunch break or in the evenings so that it doesn’t hog memory/CPU resources from your regular work. Choose preferred timing options and click Next.
– The penultimate screen prompts for the user name and password to run this task. Enter these and click Next.
– The final page confirms the task has been created. One final important step is to specify the hard drive (C/D drive) that the application is to run on. So on this page choose the Open Advanced Properties check box and click Finish.
– On the Advanced Properties screen, observe the Run text box that will contain the path to the application that you entered earlier. Most command line applications can receive extra parameters in order to be more specific about what the application is meant to do. In this, you can specify exactly which drive is to be de-fragmented by appending the drive name as follows: C:\WINDOWS\system32\defrag.exe C:. Click OK and your task to de-fragment the C-drive each week is set up so you need no longer worry about manually running it.
It really is that simple. A drop-down list of applications are displayed on the Create Task Wizard selection screen, all of which can be automated to run.
For the purposes of PC maintenance running a weekly task to invoke the Disk Defragment tool (as above) and Microsoft’s Disk Cleanup (cleanmgr.exe) are worth doing along with a monthly action to run Microsoft Check Disk (chkdsk.exe) to detect any disk errors.
After this, you could create tasks for other applications such as invoking spy ware scans, software updates, etc. If the application is not in the software list (on the selection page) then check the application’s documentation to see if it can be invoked from the command line.
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