PCs are marvelous tools, aren't they? They can do so much for us, but they're hardly the user-friendly home computers promised in science-fiction, which can follow any voice command and perform self-maintenance. It would be nice, at least, if your PC could at least do some things on its own. How about automatic weekly disk defragmentation or disk cleanup?
Luckily, with the Windows Task Scheduler, you can automate at least a few basic tasks. Here's how.
How to Schedule a Task With Task Scheduler
The Task Scheduler is a free Windows tool that lets you run predefined Windows tasks automatically. First introduced with Windows 95, the tool has definitely stood the test of time. To schedule an automatic task on your Windows computer, you'll first have to open the Task Scheduler. Here's what you've to do:
- Go to the Start menu search bar, type in ‘task scheduler,’ and select the best match.
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In the Task Scheduler menu, right-click on the Task Scheduler Library, and select New Folder…
- There, type a name for your folder and click on OK.
- Now expand the Task Schedule Library. Click on > to do that.
- Look for the finder you just created, and then select it.
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From the right-hand side, click on Create Basic Task… from under the Actions menu.
- In the Create Basic Task Wizard, type for a task. We’ve, for example, written ‘launch music’ in front of the ‘Name’ field. Then click on Next.
- Now you've to set up a trigger; a trigger decides how often your task executes. We’ve chosen Daily. Set the trigger most appropriate for you, and click on Next.
- Set the timings for the task and click on Next.
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Next, pick the action you want the Task Scheduler to perform. You’ve three to select from: Start a program, Send an e-mail, and Display a message. As we want to launch the music player, we’ll select Start a program.
- Finally, click on Finish.
Do this, and the task scheduler will create an automated task on your Windows. It will be run the next time your computer is booted up.
Tweaking an Automated Task on Windows
After you've created the task, you can always want to make some modifications to the task at a later time. So, how do you do that? Luckily, it's pretty straightforward. Just go to the Task Scheduler's main menu, and from there, head to the newly created folder; nothing new really, just follow the same steps you did above.
To make changes in your automated tasks, simply right-click on the newly created task and select Properties. As soon as you do this, you'll be taken to the properties' section of your task. As you can see, from here you can edit everything from general settings to the triggers, actions, and much more about your tasks.
Deleting Your Task With Task Scheduler
Task Scheduler is a handy application that lets you handle a wide range of automation. From basic automation to scheduling auto wake-up of your PC, with Task Scheduler you can do it all. But, once all is said and done, you can remove your automated tasks pretty easily as well. Here's how:
Just go to your automated task folder as you did in the above step, right-click on the task, and select Delete. You'll get a confirmation dialog box, click on Yes to proceed with the deletion.
Running Automated Tasks With Task Scheduler
And that's about it, folks. If you're a Windows power user who doesn't mind getting your hands dirty, you can achieve quite a lot of work with the simple hacks that come with Task Scheduler. Gone are the days when it was only the playground for coding geeks. Be it Android, iOS, or Windows, all platforms now offer the ability to automate stuff.
In fact, tools like Power Automate aim to make the whole process even more minimalist. So, don't hold back and dive headfirst into automating your basic tasks.