Computer Help Part 9 of 10 - Scheduling Tasks

If you didn't start reading from Computer Help Part 1 of 10 - Hardware Terms, then I highly recommend starting there first before continuing on...

Computer Help Part 9 of 10 - Scheduling Tasks
...Putting Windows On A Schedule

After you've downloaded and installed any software from Computer Help Part 7 of 10 - Free Software and Computer Help Part 8 of 10 - Not-So-Free Software, now it's time for them to automatically work for you.

If you're like me, it's hard to remember everything that needs to be done, especially when it comes to what seems to be unimportant tasks, but sometimes these "unimportant tasks" could save you hundreds of dollars down the road. These tasks can include updating programs, running protection software scans, backing-up your important files, optimizing your computer, etc. So, why not make a schedule for these "unimportant tasks" to run automatically so you don't have to remember to do them yourself every day? That's what this part in my series is all about.

Many different programs may have built-in scheduling so that it may either update itself occasionally or run itself automatically. An example is good protection software. Many of them will either check for updates at random times or at specific times, and run a system scan at a specific time. But some programs that you may want to do a task at a specific time every day, each week, or each month may not have this funtionality built-into it. So, every version of Windows as far back as I can remember has a way of running certain tasks at specific times, known as Scheduled Tasks or Task Scheduler (depending upon what version of Microsoft Windows you are using). You can find it here:

1. Left-click on the Start Menu.
2. Go to "All Programs".
3. Go to "Accessories".
4. Go to "System Tools".
5. Left-click on "Scheduled Tasks" or "Task Scheduler".

This will open-up a window with the Scheduled Tasks/Task Scheduler (if any) that Windows will run at specific times. The great thing about Scheduled Tasks/Task Scheduler is that you can customize these tasks for just about anything to run, any way you want. But before we start adding items, let's first create a schedule of our own to run these tasks. So, close out Scheduled Tasks/Task Scheduler for now, and we'll come back to it later once we figure out what we want to run and when we want them to run.

I created a very basic text document using Notepad (but, of course, you can use anything, such as Wordpad, Works, Word, etc.) with daily routines my computer performs. When it comes to running scheduled tasks automatically, there's two things to always keep in mind:

1. Your computer must be turned on and Microsoft Windows running for these tasks to run. Kind'a hard for Microsoft Windows to run a task when it's not even running itself, much like trying to clean your home if you're in bed asleep! If you own a desktop computer that stays on all of the time, then you'll want to run these tasks at a time when you're usually in bed asleep or at work, so hopefully, the scheduled task should be done by the time you're ready to use your computer again. However, if you own a laptop computer, you'll probably want to run these tasks at times when you're most often using the laptop. Keep in mind that your laptop will run slower while these tasks are running in the background!
   
2. You don't want scheduled tasks overlapping themselves, meaning two or more tasks running at the same time. Not only does this slow your computer down, but if two different software programs are trying to access the same file, they could "fight" with each other on who gets the access. You don't want that to happen, so each, individual task should run on different days.

Most average home users will find that automatically run one task per day, for a total of seven tasks per week, should cover just about everything they need to do. You do want to put some thought into this, especially your data backup routine. I do most of my online banking and update my personal finances spreadsheet on Mondays, and I've scheduled Microsoft Windows to backup my files for me that following night, so my just-recently updated personal finances has also been backed-up, as well. Since I TRY to be in bed by midnight, here's an example of my scheduled tasks that runs at midnight of every night, each and every week:

System Startup/User Login
CCleaner Scan

SUNDAYS
12am - Windows Updates
2am - Java Update
4am - Ad-Aware Free Updates
6am - Spybot - Search & Destroy Update
8am - SpywareBlaster Update

MONDAYS
Webroot SpySweeper With AntiVirus Full System Scan

TUESDAYS
Acronis True Image Home Data BackUp

WEDNESDAYS
Ad-Aware Free Full System Scan

THURSDAYS
Spybot - Search & Destroy Full System Scan

FRIDAYS
Windows Defender Full System Scan

SATURDAYS
Disk Defragmenter

As you can see, I have a specific day of the week, Sundays, that all of my programs, including Microsoft Windows, updates each week. You don't have to run the same tasks at the same times as I do, but this just gives you an idea of how I set it up. But if you do want to try something like mine, then here's the steps involved...

First, let's setup programs that has scheduling built-into them already. Using my list above, these programs can schedule themselves to run at specific times on specific days, where to access these options, and how to change these options...

Windows Updates:

1. Left-click on the Start Menu.
2. Open "Control Panel".
3. Open "Automatic Updates".
4. After Automatic Updates loads, make sure the button next to "Automatic (recommended)" is selected.
5. Change the day to "Every Sunday" (or whatever day you want) in the drop-down menu.
6. Change the time to "12:00 AM" (or whatever time you want) in the drop down menu next to the day.
7. Click on "Apply".
8. Click on "Ok".

Now, Windows will automatically update every Sunday at 12:00 AM, or whenever you chose. Now, onto the next program...

Java Update:

1. Left-click on the Start Menu.
2. Open "Control Panel".
3. Open "Java".
4. After Java loads, left-click on the "Update" tab towards the top of the Java Control Panel window.
5. To the right of "Notify me", change the drop-down menu option to "Before installing".
6. Make sure the box to the left of "Check for Updates Automatically" is CHECKED (has a check mark in the box).
7. Left-click on the "Advanced..." button.
8. Under "Frequency" on the left-side of the Automatic Update Advanced Setting window, left-click on the button to the left of "Weekly".
9. Under "When" on the right-side of the Automatic Update Advanced Setting window, left-click on the drop-down menu to the right of "Every" and left-click on "Sunday" (or whatever day you want).
10. Under "When" on the right-side of the Automatic Update Advanced Setting window, left-click on the drop-down menu to the right of "At" and left-click on "12:00 AM" (or whatever time you want).
11. Left-click on the "Ok" button.
12. Left-click on the "Apply" button on the Java Control Panel window.
13. Left-click on the "Ok" button on the Java Control Panel window.

Now, Java will check for updates every Sunday at 12:00 AM, or whenever you chose. Now, onto the next program...

Spybot - Search & Destroy Update And Scan (you may want to print-out these directions BEFORE getting started!):

1. Left-click on the Start Menu.
2. Go to "Spybot - Search & Destroy".
3. Left-click on "Spybot - Search & Destroy".
4. After Spybot - Search & Destory loads, left-click on "Mode" in the top-left-corner of the Spybot - Search & Destroy window.
5. Left-click on "Advanced mode" in the drop-down menu.
6. If a "Warning" window pops-up asking if you really want to switch to advanced mode, left-click on the "Yes" button.
7. Left-click on "Settings" in the bottom-left-corner of the Spybot window, in the left-side panel.
8. Left-click on "Scheduler" in the upper-left-corner of the Spybot window, in the left-side panel.
9. Left-click on the "+ Add (Updater)..." button in the upper-left-side of the Spybot window.
10. Left-click on the "Edit (Updater)" button in the upper part of the Spybot window.
11. Make sure that the box to the left of "Run only if logged on" is CHECKED (has a check mark inside the box).
12. Make sure that the box to the left of "Enabled (scheduled task runs at specific time)" is CHECKED (has a check mark inside the box).
13. Left-click on the "Schedule" tab towards the top-left-corner of the Spybot - Search & Destroy Updater - Scheduled Task window.
14. Left-click on the "New" button below the "Task not scheduled" down-down menu.
15. UNcheck the box (remove the check mark in the box) to the left of "Show multiple schedules" in the bottom-left-corner of the Spybot - Search & Destroy Updater - Scheduled Task window.
16. Select "Weekly" in the drop-down menu under "Schedule Task" (or to whatever you want).
17. Change the time to "12:00 AM" (or whatever time you want).
18. Make sure that the task runs "Every 1 week(s) on" under "Schedule Task Weekly".
19. UNcheck (remove the check marks in the boxes) for ALL abbreviated days of the week under "Schedule Task Weekly".
20. CHECK the box (add a check mark inside the box) to the left of "Sun" (Sundays, or whatever day you want) under "Schedule Task Weekly".
21. Click on the "Settings" tab in the upper-left-corner of the Spybot - Search & Destroy Updater - Scheduled Task window.
22. Make sure that the box to the left of "Delete the task if it is not scheduled to run again" is UNchecked (doesn't have a check mark in the box).
23. Make sure that the box to the left of "Stop the task if it runs for" is CHECKED (has a check mark inside the box).
24. Change the "hour(s)" of "Stop the task if it runs for" to "24" (meaning that it'll automatically stop the task if it runs for a full day, or 24 hours).
25. Make sure that the "minutes(s)" of "Stop the task if it runs for" is set to "0".
26. Under "Power Management", make sure that ALL of the boxes are CHECKED (has check marks inside of the boxes).
27. Left-click on the "Apply" button.
28. Left-click on the "Ok" button.
29. Left-click on the "Edit" button in the upper part of the Spybot window.
30. Follow steps 11 through 19.
31. CHECK the box (add a check mark inside the box) to the left of "Wed" (Wednesdays, or whatever day you want) under "Schedule Task Weekly".
32. Follow steps 21 through 28.
33. Left-click on "Mode" in the top-left-corner of the Spybot - Search & Destroy window.
34. Left-click on "Normal mode" in the drop-down menu.
35. Close (exit) Spybot - Search & Destroy.

Now, Spybot - Search & Destroy will update at 12:00 AM on Sundays (or whatever time and day you chose), and scan at 12:00 AM on Wednesdays (or whatever time and day you chose). Now, onto the next program...

Protection Software Scan:
Since different protection software programs are different on how you set them up, and there's literally hundreds of different protections software programs out there, it would be practically impossible to cover each and every one of them here. The best way to find out is to...

1. Open your protection software program.
2. Go into the program's Help (usually you can do this by pressing the "F1" key).
3. Left-click on the "Search" tab in the upper-left-corner of the Help window, usually underneath the "Print" button.
4. Type "schedule" in the white box underneath the "Search" tab you just clicked-on.
5. Left-click on the "List Topics" button underneath the white box you just typed "schedule" in.
6. Double-left-click through each of the topics listed below the "List Topics" button until you find-out how to add or create a scheduled update and scan, and follow its directions thorughly. I also recommend doing a "Full System Scan", if your protection software gives you that option to do so.

Data Backup:
Since different data back software programs are different on how you set them up, and there's literally hundreds of different data back software programs out there, it would be practically impossible to cover each and every one of them here. Please follow the same directions as you did above using your protection software program. Now, onto the next program...

Windows Defender Scan:
Windows Defender automatically comes with Windows Vista, but you have to download and install it from Microsoft if you're using a ligitimate, legal copy of Windows XP. If Windows Defender is installed, here's how to setup weekly full system scans:

1. Left-click on the Start Menu.
2. Open "All Programs".
3. Go to "Accessories".
4. Go to "System Tools".
5. Left-click on "Windows Defender".
6. Left-click on "Tools" in the upper-part of the Windows Defender window.
7. Under "Settings", left-click on "Options" in the left-side of the Windows Defender window.
8. Under "Automatic scanning", make sure that the box to the left of "Automatically scan my computer (recommended)" is CHECKED (has a check mark inside the box).
9. To the right of "Frequency", change the day to "Thursday" (or whatever day you want) in the drop-down menu.
10. To the right of "Approximate time", change the time to "12:00 AM" (or whatever time you want) in the drop-down menu.
11. To the right of "Type", change it to "(Full System Scan)" in the drop-down menu.
12. Make sure that the box to the left of "Check for updated definitions before scanning" is CHECKED (has a check mark inside the box), but ONLY if you have broadband cable or DSL internet! UNcheck (remove the check mark inside this box) if you are still using dial-up internet!
13. Make sure that the box to the left of "Apply default actions to items detected during a scan" is CHECKED (has a mark inside the box).
14. Under "Default actions", make sure that all of the High, Medium, and Low alert items are set to "Default action (definition-based)" in the drop-down menus.
15. Under "Real-time protection options", make sure that ALL of the boxes are CHECKED (have check marks inside ALL of the boxes).
16. Under "Choose if Windows Defender should notify you about", make sure that ALL of the boxes are UNchecked (DON'T have check marks inside the boxes).
17. Under "Choose when the Windows Defender icon appears in the notification area", click on the button to the left of "Only if Windows Defender detects an action to take".
18. Under both "Advanced options" and "Administrator options", make sure that ALL of the boxes are CHECKED (have check marks inside ALL of the boxes).
19. Click on the "Save" button at the bottom of the Windows Defender window.
20. Close (exit) Windows Defender.

Now, Windows Defender will run a full system scan every Thursday at 12:00 AM, or whenever you chose. Now, we're gonna learn how to use Scheduled Tasks for programs that don't have built-in scheduling. If you followed the directions for Spybot - Search & Destroy above, then you've already created two of these tasks! Spybot uses the Scheduled Tasks program for it's updates and scans. But, we'll cover a general idea of how to setup a scheduled task in Scheduled Tasks for clarification:

1. Left-click on the Start Menu.
2. Go to "All Programs".
3. Go to "Accessories".
4. Go to "System Tools".
5. Left-click on "Scheduled Tasks".
6. Double-left-click on "Add Scheduled Task".
7. Click on the "Next" button to continue.
8. A list of many of your installed software programs will appear. If you see the program in the list you want to create a scheduled task for, left-click on it. If not, you'll have to left-click on the "Browse..." button and point Windows to where and what the program you want to run. This, of course, requires some know-how on your part. Most programs are located in the "C:\Program Files\" folder and are usually "(name of program).exe" files.
9. Left-click on "Next".
10. You may name this task to anything you want in the white box, or just leave the name as-is. Your choice, and it has no bearings on how it runs. It's simply a name for the task to help you remember what it is and what it does. Simple as that.
11. If you want the task to run each week, click on the button to the left of "Weekly", whatever option you want.
12. Once you choose how often to run the task, click on the "Next" button.
13. Under "Start Time", select the time you want to run the task at.
14. To the right of "Every", choose how often, such as "Every 1 weeks" to run it each and every week, but this depends upon the option you chose in step 11.
15. Under "Select the (whatever option you chose in step 11) below", you may choose when to run the program. For example, if you chose "Weekly" in step 11, then you may choose what days to run it on.
16. Click on the "Next" button.
17. If Windows requires a password for you to log-into your Windows user account when you turn-on or restart your computer, type the password in both the white boxes to the right of "Enter the password" and "Comfirm password". However, if Windows doesn't require a password for you to log-into your Windows user account when you turn-on or restart your computer, just leave these white boxes blank (emtpy). Most average home users don't set a password to log-into their Windows user account.
18. Click on the "Next" button.
19. CHECK the box (has a check mark inside the box) to the right of "Open advanced properties for this task when I click Finish".
20. Click on the "Finish" button.
21. If you get a Task Scheduler error message pop-up saying something about "Access is denied", that's pretty normal. Just click on the "Ok" button to continue.
22. CHECK the box (has a check mark inside the box) to the right of "Run only if logged on" to fix the error message in step 21.
23. Also make sure that the box is CHECKED (has a check mark inside the box) to the right of "Enabled (scheduled task runs at specific time)".
24. Click on the "Schedule" tab towards the top-left-corner of the Spybot - Search & Destroy Updater - Scheduled Task window.
25. Make sure that the box to the left of "Show multiple schedules" in the bottom-left-corner of the scheduled task window is UNchecked (remove the check mark in the box).
26. Click on the "Settings" tab in the upper-left-corner of the scheduled task window.
27. Make sure that the box to the left of "Delete the task if it is not scheduled to run again" is UNchecked (doesn't have a check mark in the box).
28. Make sure that the box to the left of "Stop the task if it runs for" is CHECKED (has a check mark inside the box).
29. Change the "hour(s)" of "Stop the task if it runs for" to "24" (meaning that it'll automatically stop the task if it runs for a full day, or how ever long you want). This is to make sure that this scheduled task doesn't overlap the next scheduled task set to run. So, if you run one scheduled task each day at the same time of every day (for example, at midnight of every night), the longest you would want it to run is 24 hours. If for some reason, it's still running when the next scheduled task is set to start, Windows will automatically try to stop the currently running scheduled task so they don't overlap each other.
30. Make sure that the "minutes(s)" of "Stop the task if it runs for" is set to "0", or however long you want. Refer to step 24 for details.
31. Under "Power Management", make sure that ALL of the boxes are CHECKED (has check marks inside of the boxes). If you're using a laptop computer, or have your desktop computer hooked-up to a battery backup and the power goes out, you don't want Windows to start running tasks if you're only running on battery power. What if the battery runs out of power and your computer immediately shuts down while it's in the middle of doing a scheduled task? Usually, not good. Also, you want your computer to "wake-up" to do a scheduled task, much like waking yourself up to clean the house.
32. Click on the "Apply" button.
33. Click on the "Ok" button.

Now, certain programs may be able to automatically run with little or no intervention from you, which is, of course, the idealistic situation, right? But some programs won't run automatically with little intervention unless you tell them to do so. Referring to my list of scheduled items listed at the top of this part, there's a couple of programs I have listed that if you were to just schedule them to run without telling them to do so without any intervention, they'll run, but will just sit there until you click on whatever it is they want you click on before they'll actually do something. Here's an example:

CCleaner is a great free utility that cleans out your temporary and other junk files from your computer. If you were to just schedule for it to run on Fridays at midnight without telling it to clean automatically, the CCleaner window will pop-up at midnight every Friday, but it'll just sit there, waiting for you to click on "Run Cleaner" button, just as if you had opened the program normally. What good is that?! Yeah, maybe a reminder for you to do it, but what we want here is for it to automatically clean your temporary and junk files, and then closes itself once it's done so you don't have to tell it to, right? Create a scheduled task for it as normally described above...

1. Follow steps 1 through 7 above.
2. Select "CCleaner" in the list of your installed software programs. If, for some reason, it's not listed, left-click on the "Browse..." button and then browse to "C:\Program Files\CCleaner\CCleaner.exe" (if you installed it in its default location). You may also simply type or copy and paste "C:\Program Files\CCleaner\CCleaner.exe" in the white box to the right of "File name" and then left-click on the "Open" button.
3. Follow steps 9 through 31.
4. Left-click on the "Task" tab in the top-right-corner of the CCleaner scheduled task window.
5. In the white box to the right of "Run", add quotation marks, or quotes (" ") around the full path name (so it looks just like: "C:\Program Files\CCleaner\CCleaner.exe" OR "C:\PROGRA~1\CCleaner\CCleaner.exe").
6. At the end of of this line, in the same white box, and after the last quotation mark ("), add "/AUTO" (withOUT the quotation marks) to it, so that it now says: "C:\Program Files\CCleaner\CCleaner.exe" /AUTO or "C:\PROGRA~1\CCleaner\CCleaner.exe" /AUTO.

The "/AUTO" is called a switch that tells CCleaner to clean your temporary and junk files automatically without any invervention from you! Different software programs uses different switches to automatically perform certain tasks. Another good example is Disk Defragmenter. If you're using Windows XP, let's also add this one, while we're at it...

1. Follow steps 1 through 7 above, as we did for CCleaner.
2. For Disk Defragmenter, there's two types of it. There's the one that you're used to running (if you've ever ran Disk Defragmenter), but it doesn't have ANY automation included with it. The other less popular one is one that can be ran from the DOS command prompt, that CAN be automated. So, since the DOS command line version won't be listed in your installed software programs list, we'll need to add this one manually by left-clicking on the "Browse..." button and browse to "C:\Windows\System32\Defrag.exe". You may also simply type or copy and paste "C:\Windows\System32\Defrag.exe" in the white box to the right of "File name" and then left-click on the "Open" button.
3. Follow steps 9 through 31 above, as we did with CCleaner.
4. Left-click on the "Task" tab in the top-right-corner of the Defrag scheduled task window.
5. In the white box to the right of "Run", add quotation marks, or quotes (" ") around the full path name (so it looks just like: "C:\WINDOWS\system32\defrag.exe").
6. At the end of of this line, in the same white box, and after the last quotation mark ("), add "C: -f -v" (withOUT the quotation marks) to it, so that it now says: "C:\WINDOWS\system32\defrag.exe" C: -f -v.

And now, the DOS command prompt version of Disk Defragmenter will run automatically without any intervention from you!

If you're running Windows Vista, then Disk Defragmenter has a built-in scheduler (finally), and can be changed by...

1. Left-click on the Start Menu.
2. Go to "All Programs".
3. Go to "Accessories".
4. Go to "System Tools".
5. Left-click on "Disk Defragmenter".

You should see where you can change the frequency and times of when Disk Defragmenter runs. You can set it for every Saturday at 12:00 AM, or anytime you wish.

Now, onto Computer Help Part 10 of 10 - Quick Fixes...

1. Computer Help Part 1 of 10 - Hardware Terms (Start)
   
2. Computer Help Part 2 of 10 - Software Terms
   
3. Computer Help Part 3 of 10 - Upgrading & Maintenance
   
4. Computer Help Part 4 of 10 - Data BackUp
5. Computer Help Part 5 of 10 - Recovery Discs
   
6. Computer Help Part 6 of 10 - Protection Software
   
7. Computer Help Part 7 of 10 - Free Software
   
8. Computer Help Part 8 of 10 - Not-So-Free Software (Previous)
   
9. Computer Help Part 9 of 10 - Scheduled Tasks (Current)
   
10. Computer Help Part 10 of 10 - Quick Fixes (Next)