Enter Taweet.  Learn how to schedule future tweets!

There are a few tools I’ve come across that allow you to schedule posts for the future. Taweet is here to hopefully change the way we think about Twitter and tweeting from “thinking about the past” to “what’s going on in the future.” Twitter asks “What are you doing?” Taweet asks “What are you doing IN THE FUTURE?”

Taweet, as you can probably tell, majors on the art of the future tweet.  It allows for, amongst other things, talking about what’s going to happen, such as events or plans.

Taweet actually offers several perks that can enhance your Twittering: tweet scheduling, threaded discussions, AND multiple account management. Let’s see what these are all about!

Taweet provides you with a way how to schedule tweets for the future. There are several reasons someone would want to do this. If you want to create a buzz or get the word out about something in the future, a properly timed tweet could play a decent role. Also you can use Taweet as a kind of social calendar, letting your followers know what you’ve got going on.

Taweet has an interesting way of posting future tweets. The user interface makes it quite simple to choose the date and time.

When the tweet is posted,it gives the time and a link to the post on Taweet.com, allowing the viewer to comment.

This is where threaded comments come in. I for one like the idea of having the comments threaded directly beneath my tweet so I can get a handle on the conversation. Taweet does this for you and the result is something similar to what Facebook does with its updates and comments.

Taweet also gives you the option to add multiple Twitter accounts. This makes it easier to switch between them. Hey, if you like tweeting in the future with one account, why not all of them?

Signing up is really easy.  If you’re on the front page, you’ll notice the “Sign in with Twitter” button. Hit it.

Next you’ll have to be willing to allow Taweet to connect to your Twitter account.  If you want to use Taweet, you’ve got to hit “allow.”

You’re then asked the question, “Would you like to link this account with one previously used on Taweet?“  If you’re new to Taweet, the obvious answer is “I’m new to Taweet.”

After you enter your email address, a confirmation email is sent to you.  Before progressing any further, you have to check your email and click on the confirmation link.

Finally you’re given the controls!

So there you have it; yet another Twitter tool emerges filling yet another void!  There is obviously more to Taweet, such as searching other users’ future posts to find out what’s going on in the future.  To me, this tool seems simple enough to use but it also has the possibility to change the way we think about and use Twitter.

Now you too can learn to tweet for the future!

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The problem is that most home users of moderate means can’t usually afford the Office package that includes Microsoft Project. The majority of home computer users will have the standard office package, such as the 2007 Home and Student edition which has Word, Excel, Powerpoint and OneNote.

However, at home I also have a number of involved and complicated projects that I’m trying to manage, as does my wife and if you have any teenage kids at home – project management software could help them tremendously with managing their time between homework, school projects, sport events and everything else life dishes out upon a vibrant and busy family. I am very pleased to present a shockingly free and very creative online project management tool called Gantter.

Free Creative Project Management Software Just By Typing a URL

Here’s what blew me away. I’m accustomed to testing dozens of free applications every month, and most of the time you need to at least provide an email address or some other way to identify yourself. Surprisingly, when you first visit the Gantter website, you’ll see yourself instantly staring at what looks like Microsoft Project. The website itself is the application, and once you visit it, you can instantly start creating your own project management file.

For me, such a creative way to use a project management application is like a dream come true. You can create a Microsoft Project compatible file for any project that you’ve got going on. This application lets you save those files (or even PDF exports) onto your USB flash drive. Later, when you want to make changes to your project, just go to any computer, pop in your USB drive and visit Gantter, where you can open that file and modify it however you wish.

It doesn’t matter whether the computer you’re using has MS Project or not. And if you already use MS Project at work? Even better – now you can take your work anywhere with you and edit those MS Project files remotely, whether you’re working on a computer at an Internet Cafe, a library or anywhere else.

I decided that I would finally start writing that novel that I’ve always wanted to get started on but couldn’t because these MakeUseOf article deadlines keep getting in the way – so why not work on my novel while I’m working on a MakeUseOf article? 

My first step was to create my task list for the novel project.

Creating the task list is fast and easy, but the real power of this online application is where you set the predecessors (the work you need to get done before you can start on that task). Just like in MS Project, Gantter automatically schedules out all of your work based on what you need to do and when you need to do it. All you need to think about is one task at a time.

For example, here I’ve clicked on setting up the predecessor for writing the second chapter, which I can start doing the moment the first chapter is done (I don’t need to finish revising the first before I get started on the second.)

Also, on this screen you can add additional notes for this task, as well as assign resources that you’ve configured in the “resources” section of the application. Gantter takes all of this information that you feed it and generates a nice, clear schedule (Gantt chart) for you off to the right side of the screen.

Exploring the software a bit, it’s apparent that this isn’t some cheap, fly-by-night web app – this is a well thought out and very well programmed online application that works fast and efficiently throughout my testing on Firefox and Internet Explorer. The features are many, as you can see from my drilling through the menus.

Saving and Accessing Your Projects

So, what do you do when you’re done planning out your project and you want to save the file? Obviously, you can’t store the data in your account, because you don’t have an account. If you pretend that this application is just like any other desktop application you use, then the answer is simple – just click save!

That’s the beauty of Gantter – it’s like you’re using a desktop application even though you’re using your Internet browser. You can either save the file or export it to MS Project. Saving downloads your file as a “project.xml” file, which you can access later from this same website.

Copy the XML file to your USB drive, and later when you come back to the website (no matter where you are in the world), just click File -> Open and you’ll be able to browse to your USB drive and open up your saved XML file.

Simple. Easy. Convenient. Those are the three words I think about when I use this online application. No sign-up required, no download required and no money required. The application was written by Volodymyr Mazepa, a Ukraine-based IT project manager – one IT manager who clearly knows his stuff. I encourage anyone who uses this application to click on Help -> About and send Volodymyr a hearty thank-you for his excellent work and for offering us this high-quality online application at no cost, a very rare act of kindness these days.

Do you have any online project management apps that you prefer? What do you think of Gantter? Share your opinions in the comments section below.

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Toodledo is a surprisingly good to do list manager. It is really awesome and I thought I would show it to you today. If you wear many hats and have lots of tasks to do throughout the day you need some sort of task management system. If you don’t, you will fail – epically.

The web application features include the ability to use folders, subtasks, due-dates, priorities, tags, contexts, goals, notes, and time estimates. Did I mention that it also works seamlessly with the iPhone?

Let’s take a good look at ToodleDo :

You will need to sign up for a free account. You will see the sign in box on the right hand side and right below that will be the box to register. Hit that Green check mark next to the register button to continue.

All you have to give them is an email address and a password. You can also set up an account using your OpenID. There is a hyper link for this right below the sign in button.

Once you are logged in you will see the overview as you can see below.

Your menu bar is on the left but I mainly work out of the To-Do list. You will see two items already there for you to look at and play with. There will also be a tool tip telling you to check out the account settings page to dictate how the tasks are laid out. I did not see much difference in their two options. Clicking the Show Details option shows all the details associated with each task as you can see below:

Now let’s add our own item to the list. Simply hit the Add item button in the upper right hand corner and you will get a screen that looks like this:

Those are the basic fields and you will also see two buttons in the right hand side that say Add multiple tasks and Import tasks. The add multiple tasks window looks like this:

And the import window looks like this:

That is just a tip of the iceberg.  When it comes to importing and exporting, there are 3 more pages of options. But I digress and let’s get back to the actual task management online application.

Running down the menu the first item is Sharing. This enables you to let the world see your to-do list as well as your calendar and other options.

The calendar option shows you a calendar with your tasks on them. You can also choose to use Google Calendar instead. It is a simple check box under the calendar option.

The scheduler is a pay feature so on we move to the Goals section:

There is still Notes and History that are available for free and very handy for tracking completed tasks and adding, importing or exporting notes again with a plethora of options!

Do you have a favorite To Do task management online application? Share it with us in the comments!

Toodledo

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We’ve reviewed quite a lot of different tools that allow you to be more productive, organized and collaborative, such as Shareflow,Tokbox and Notely, but the search has not ended.  Today we’re going to take a look at Ubidesk, a fresh take on online team collaboration.

Launched just a couple of months ago, Ubidesk has already attracted the attention of the media and presents a solid feature list as well as a good user interface. Leveraging the SaaS (Software as a Service) concept, Ubidesk allows for team collaboration, be it in the same building or another continent, to instantly share and edit documents, upload files, manage both shared and private calendars, and manage tasks easily and efficient.

Ubidesk is definitely one of the most comprehensive solutions available at the moment. The online rich text editor has all the features you need to create complex documents, with formatting, images, tables, spell-checking and most essential – a solid revision tool that enables you to quickly spot changes made by other team members. If you’d rather not have your co-workers mess with your presentation, there is also a feature that locks new edits.

Since tasks and documents are almost always related to each other, you can assign documents to tasks and vice versa. Multiple documents can now be easily bundled for a task – no need to search a massive folder – and you’ve also got useful information such as the due date. Unlike other services, your tasks have different statuses: after a task is assigned, the status becomes “Started” when the assignee clicks the “Start” button. Nifty way to keep the project manager into the loop, isn’t it?

If you need more information about the development of a project or the status of your team collaboration, see who’s not doing their share or assign payment – the Timeline and the task log give a bird’s eye view of the changes. Are you working on the next generation MacBook hardware? Keep only the assigned project members in the loop by creating a hidden project. You’d like anyone to participate – make it public. Want others to see what’s going on, but not interfere, simply choose Protected.

With Ubidesk, you can manage  both your “Space” and personal calendar in one place. Keep your personal appointments private while sharing the work calendar with your colleagues – and see them all in one view, eliminating the possibility of overlapping appointments. Best of all, you can import and export at any time in the standard iCal format. Another aspect worth mentioning is the Sidebar. The Sidebar is a click away when you need to consult another document while writing or jot down notes in the Notepad.

There’s also no need to download files to your computer in order to view them – Ubidesk supports image and document formats such as JPEG, GIF, PDF, Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint and OpenOffice. “Direct Edit” eliminates the need to re-upload documents after editing them in Microsoft Office. We’ve also got a dedicated discussion space – with separate threads for each topic. Security conscious users will surely note the use of 256bit key encrypted HTTPS protocol to transfer data between your computer and Ubidesk. It’s good security, the same your bank uses. They also pledge not screen or filter any data.

Overall, Ubidesk  is a good way to go around online team collaboration – a solid web app with lots of potential and great attention to details. Sign up for free and share your impressions in the comments.

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For instance, I need to send forth an email to a different time zone at 6 AM in the morning. The tireless way would be to wake with the birds and send it on the clock at 6 AM. The job’s done…but the smarter way would be to compose it the night before and schedule it for email delivery at 6 AM. The job’s done without me losing any sleep over it.

So why lose sleep when an email client like Outlook comes with a schedule delivery feature built right in. And till the day Gmail comes out with it, the desktop Outlook is the way to go.

The option was there in the earlier editions of Outlook too. A few simple settings and it makes Outlook work at the right time.

Let’s see how to set it up with Microsoft Outlook 2007.

• Start with a new email message.
• On the Message tab, click on the tiny Message Options arrow which gives out the Message Options dialog box.



• You can also access this dialog from the Options tab – More Options – Delay Delivery.



• Under Delivery Option, select and mark the box which says Do not deliver before. Click on the Calendar and Time dropdowns to select the exact day and time when you want the email to be delivered. Click on Close.



• When you click on Send, the message remains in the outbox till the time scheduled by you for emailing it. Of course, Outlook must remain open till that time.

There is no limit to the number of emails you can setup for scheduled delivery.

Unfortunately, there is no simple way to setup a recurring scheduled email. It would have been really handy for nagging you-owe-me emails to a thrifty friend. That’s a bit of a miss as it’s not possible to set up Microsoft Outlook to schedule recurring events like appointments and tasks. The recourse for recurring scheduled email is only through third party add-ins. I haven’t come across a freeware add-in so far, so my hunt is still on.

Read the official Microsoft Online page here.

The scheduling of my emails lets me fire and forget. It is a little used but invaluable tool for productivity. That is, if you don’t want to wake up at ungodly hours. Do you use this tool regularly, sporadically or not at all? Let us know the worth of this optional setup.

Image Credit: WorldIslandInfo.com

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Google Updater is a part of the Google Pack (Google’s own apps and a few third party tools like Firefox, Norton Security Scan etc.). Google Updater is the small itsy bitsy “installer” that downloads and installs the software. But its brevity goes beyond that as it also monitors the apps for updates and manages their run. In short, it’s a meta-installer and auto-updater.

The two hitches …

Being a package management app also means that Google Updater continues to run behind the scenes though in the new version it is controlled by the Windows Task Manager to run once every hour. You can see it running in the background by doing a Ctrl + Alt + Del and going down the Task Manager entries. Some users feel that apps should give the option of self-timed updates rather than the auto-updater butting in. (It is especially annoying when the firewall catches it while auto-updating). Also, a separate service running in the computer (and consuming resources) for update checking is the exception rather than the rule.

Then according to Google,

When Google Update communicates with Google servers, it sends IDs of Google Update-managed applications on your computer and general usage information for these applications. Google Update also uses its own, randomly-generated unique ID number to accurately count total users. This information includes version numbers, languages, operating system, and other install or update-related details, such as whether or not the applications have been run. This information is not associated with you or your Google Account. Additional information may be sent if you choose to send your usage statistics for Google Chrome.

It is this point where a lot of brow wrinkling has come about. Though the information is sent using random IDs, any user might feel a bit ill at ease with his usage information being uploaded however benign the intention. While Google has tried to ease the issues by open sourcing the Google Updater code (the Omaha project), a lot of us will still have a go at blocking it.

The 2 ways to disable Google Updater

A. Remove from startup

1. Click on Start – Run. Type in msconfig in the Open field and click OK.
2. The System Configuration Utility opens up. Select the Startup tab. Go down to the GoogleUpdate startup item and deselect it.
3. Restart the computer.

B. Stop the Google Update service from running

1. Click on Start – Run. Type in services.msc in the Open field and click OK.
2. In Services, scroll down to GoogleUpdate Service. Double click on it to open the Properties box (or right click and select Properties).  The Startup Type drop-down lists three options – select Disabled.
3. Click on Apply and OK.

The 2 ways to manage Google Updater

Manage Updates using the Task Scheduler

Spurred by the concerns of an automatic updater as a background process, Google now has added the option – Let me check for updates myself under the Preferences tab. Also, the Updater runs only periodically as per the Windows Task Scheduler.

To run the task scheduler, click Start – All Programs – Accessories – System Tools – Scheduled Tasks.

The default interval for Updates is to connect to Google’s servers once an hour. It will stop running after it checks for updates. You can change the schedule double clicking on the Google Software Updater and setting a new time in the Schedule Tab.

But as Google says, if the Updater or the Task scheduler is seen to be not working properly then Google Update resumes its automatic behavior. I am also not sure whether a new install of a Google app affect the user set update time.

The Google Updater can also be configured to update either all software in the Google Pack or only software developed by Google. And if you no longer use any Google apps, it uninstalls itself.

Manage Updates using the Group Policy Editor

In mid-May, Google explained how the Google Update could be customized (set update periods or disable it) for enterprise users using the Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) using an imported administrative template. Power users can check out the detailed instructions given in the help.

Most software these days feature automatic updates. The need to keep applications updated is vital to plug malware attacks and remove bugs. But many users voice that there is no need to check for updates so frequently. If your voice is one of them then these methods would help in ‘caging the little beast’.

Do you agree with the concerns or do you feel that automatic updates are the way to go? Let us know in the comments.

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Here’s how to use Windows’ Task Scheduler to run desired programs automatically at preset time.

An overview of Task Scheduler is in order. Open it from Start Menu > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Scheduled Tasks. Double-click “Add Scheduled Task” to open the Wizard.

Your first step is to select the program to be run on a schedule. For this example, we’ll schedule one of MakeUseOf’s favorite Windows programs, CCleaner, to perform automatic system cleanup. Download it here.

You’ll next choose the day and time when to run the program. For a disk-cleanup tool such as this, running daily or weekly should be just fine. I’m scheduling CCleaner to run at 6:17 PM every day.

Next, name and provide the password for the Windows user account which will run the program. At the next step, select the checkbox to open the task’s advanced properties.

Now, looking at how this task is set up, not much is going to happen on schedule, except that CCleaner opens. To get CCleaner to do its thing, we’ll need to add some command-line arguments, or “switches”, to the Run line. Depending on which program you’re wishing to automate, this is where things start to get different. To find out what switches exist, if any, you may check the program’s documentation and help files, or just Google it.

For CCleaner, adding “/AUTO” to the Run line will have the program perform a disk cleanup silently and in the background, then close when done. Let’s go back to the task properties, where I’ve added the switch to the Run command.

After hitting OK, CCleaner will run on your specified schedule.

There are other solutions to run programs automatically on a specified schedule or in response to a system event. What are your own favorites? Give us some ideas in the comments.

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This app tells your computer to execute tasks specified by you at the time you’d like them to be run. You can turn off, restart, hibernate, suspend, logout, and run other applications on your computer with the click of a few buttons.

How do We do This?

First you’ll have to download the app here.

Now after the app has been successfully installed, you can begin to play around and find out what tasks you’d like to schedule. You’ll need to begin by opening up Marxio Timer and coming to a screen similar to the following:

Within this screen you’ll need to decide whether you want to select a few of the tasks already pre-selected or you can choose the Run Program option and browse through the apps you’d like to run at a selected time.

For the sake of this tutorial I have chosen to run a Display text task. This can come in handy at times when you want to remember important tasks or memos.

Once I’ve entered the selected text I will scroll down and enter the time I’d like the task to run.

Now I can either choose additional tasks to go along with the reminder such as turning off the computer or I can press the Activate button to finalize the task.

As soon as you activate your task a small window will pop-up showing you the allotted time you have before your task is executed. You can easily hide this window and quickly re-open it to check your remaining time as well.

And finally, once your timer has reached its end, the task will be carried out automatically. You won’t need to do anything else but sit back and let Marxio Timer do the rest.

To Conclude:

Marxio Timer also lets you save user profiles for future tasks, and it allows you to create a desktop shortcut so that you’re able to quick-start your tasks without having to fully open up Marxio. Tasks can be virtually scheduled to any time you choose after/before/every few minutes, after your PC is on idle time, once, or on any other pre-selected time periods.

Another quick feature this app comes with is the capturing of screenshots. You can set the timer to capture any area of your screen at whatever time you decide as you manipulate the timer to benefit you. This is a nifty feature that can come in handy for avid users.

Do you know of any other similar apps that can be used to manipulate the PC in this way? If so, let us know about them in the comments.

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If you ever wondered how you could achieve that Linux style cron jobs on Windows and tried using the Windows task scheduler you have probably given up hope and have multiple entries to run the same task. On the other hand if you have used the Linux Cron utility you’ll know the power it offers. Bringing similar powers and options to Windows is Z-Cron.

Download

You can download Z-Cron for free here. The download is a zip file, extract and run the setup.

How to Use

Once Z-Cron has been set up, you can begin scheduling tasks with great power and ease. Lets say you keep all your torrent files in one directory and you want to be able to load all the torrent files in that directory in your torrent client for downloading, automatically at 2am on Saturdays and Tuesdays (for whatever reason, here in India we have some broadband plans where data transfer doesn’t count towards the bandwidth cap between 2 am – 8 am, so you can use the following example and change it according to your needs).

Let’s walk through the process:

1. I am using µtorrent in this example.  If you use any other torrent client you would have to find the command line options/parameters for your client. For µtorrent it is

µtorrent.exe /directory “<torrent save path>” “<path to torrent file>”

2. Since we want to add all the torrents in a particular directory to the download queue you would have to create a batch file. I won’t get into the details here but here is what you add to the batch file (I am looping through all torrent files and adding them to µtorrent):

ECHO OFF
cd c:\Torrents
FOR %%X IN (*.torrent) DO “C:\Program Files\µtorrent\µtorrent.exe” /directory “D:\Torrent_Downloads” c:\Torrents\%%X

Where C:\Torrents is where I would store .torrent files and D:\Torrent_Downloads is where I want the downloads to be stored. Be careful while using spaces in names of folders or files, it may break the batch file code.

3. Save this file as torrents.bat

4. Start Z-Cron, Click on task (this allows you to create/edit existing tasks)

5. This should open up the Job Settings Window like below. In here you can choose the program/batch file/commands to run and pass arguments to them. Since we already created a batch file in steps 1,2 and 3 we will choose that file here, name our task and provide some description.

6. Click on the scheduler tab and this is where you get the control over scheduling that you can’t even imagine to get with the default Windows Task Scheduler. The screen looks like this:

You can choose to schedule tasks by weeks or months. Check the Weekday under “Period” and you will get the weekly scheduler. Check Tuesday and Saturday.

If however you want greater control you can schedule for specific dates by choosing “Month” as period, which makes it look like this:

You can now do things like making the task run on 27th of every month, last Week of every month, or all Tuesdays of every month, or simply run on 27th February or any other day.

7. So far so good, we have chosen the days we want the task to run, now for the time. Click on scheduler button to bring up a screen like the following:

Hover over the check boxes and see the time change at the bottom, check the appropriate check box, you can select multiple checkboxes to run the task repeatedly.

8. For our torrent download example the screens look like this (remember we want to run it at 2 am on Saturdays and Tuesdays)

That’s it we have scheduled the task to run at 2 am on Tuesdays and Saturdays (notice the calendar on right hand side).

In addition to the control you get in scheduling tasks, you can also use Z-Cron’s built in commands to dial up your connection, move files/ directories, sound alarms, kill processes, monitor programs and many more things effectively removing tedious steps 1, 2 and 3. However if you need something custom, like the example above, you will have hack around a bit!

So how do you like Z-Cron? Do you know of other similar utilities for Windows? Can you think of more constructive ways to use Z-Cron? Share with us in the comments!

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In Linux, the easiest way to schedule and automate a task is to use the crontab. This is a command line based application that allows you to execute commands or scripts automatically at a specified time/date.

For those who dislike the terminal and command line interface, Gnome Schedule is the graphical equivalent of the crontab. It leverages the power of vixie-cron, dcron and at to manage your crontab file and provide an easy way to schedule tasks on your computer. Be it scheduling a recurrent task or task that happens only once, Gnome-schedule has no problem in handling it.

Installation

Gnome Schedule is found in the repository of most Linux distros, so installation is an easy affair. If you are using Ubuntu, you can easily install it by clicking this link, in Synaptic Package Manager or in your terminal, type the following command:

sudo apt-get install gnome-schedule

Usage

When you schedule a new task, you can choose whether it is a recurrent task or just a one-time thing.

For a one-time task, you will be prompted to enter the task description, the date and time of the code execution and the code to be executed. In case you don’t know, a one-time task doesn’t mean you can only schedule one thing to run. You can easily configure Gnome Schedule to run several commands and do different things all at the same time.

For example, you can get it to stop all the applications, clear the trash bin and shutdown the computer at 10pm sharp at night. You just need to ensure that you enter each command in a new line and in the sequence that you want it to run.

There is also a button for you to add the existing task as a template. With the template, you won’t have to enter the setting for the same task over and over again.

In the Recurrent mode, you can define the task to run every week, hour, minute, second, or at every reboot. If you want precise control, you can also turn on the Advanced mode to edit the schedule manually.

By default, Gnome Schedule is not able to run the command code that requires administrator permission. For scheduling tasks that involve the system setting, you need to first run Gnome Schedule in Super-user mode before you can add the task to the schedule. To do that, you have to run the Gnome Schedule application from the terminal.

gksu gnome-schedule

In the Super-user mode, you can also edit other user’s scheduled tasks.

Conclusion

Gnome Schedule is a simple and easy to use application for you to schedule and automate tasks in your Linux machine. It doesn’t require you to remember or learn any command line instruction for creating a cron job, yet it allows you to schedule and automate your tasks easily. One thing though, you will have to learn the command line codes that execute your tasks or you won’t be able to create the task.

It would be great if the developer can include some pre-defined template for the standard tasks such as shutdown, clear the trash, close all windows etc.

What other software do you use to automate and schedule tasks in your Linux machine?

Image credit: Jean-Lou Dupont

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Freebyte Task Scheduler is a simple portable 219KB download, with no installation required (Windows only). It is an alternative task scheduler to Windows Scheduled Tasks which you can use to schedule any script, program, or document to run at a time that is most convenient for you. Scheduled Tasks starts every time that you start Windows XP and runs in the background, and it starts each task that you schedule at the time that you specify when you create the task.

You might be asking yourself why you would want to replace something that you never use?  The answer should be because this is easier to use and you can bring it to any Windows machine you are working on.

Just open up this program by double clicking on it.

You will see a screen that looks identical to this:

To add a task you can either hit the icon on the bottom with the Plus on it or go to the Task Menu and choose “add”. You can see your other options here as well.

After pressing the “add” button you will see the Task Setup screen as show below. Here is where you tell FreeByte what you want it to run and when. I normally create a “*.bat” (Batch File) listing the commands I want run. But you can just as easily have it open up Word or Outlook at a specific time.

You can have it launch your backup software or copy files from point A to point B. When you are done, close it down and take it with you on your memory stick or save it in the cloud that is the internet.

You will notice the options are almost identical to the Microsoft Scheduled Task options and I know a lot of MakeUseOf readers hate Microsoft so here is yet another Microsoft replacement!

Do you use scheduled tasks? What do you accomplish with them? Got any tricks to share with our readers? Have some crazy custom scripts or a favorite portable application?

Share them with us in the comments. Put us on!

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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