T3: Technology Tips and Tricks
Scheduling Tasks on a Windows XP Computer
Performing necessary maintenance on your computer is often difficult to remember to do and can be tedious to execute regularly if one is not completely familiar with what needs to be done. Why not schedule the necessary programs to run automatically during a period when your computer will be idle?
In order to schedule certain tasks (such as disk cleanup and disk defragmentation) 
so that they will begin to run automatically, you need to open the Scheduled Task Wizard. In order to do this, click on the Start Menu and move your cursor to All Programs. From there, slide the cursor up to Accessories, and move to System Tools and then to Scheduled Tasks on the Fly-out Menus that follow.
In the Scheduled Task window that comes up 
next, you’ll see a small icon with the label Add Scheduled Task. Click on this icon. The Scheduled Task Wizard will appear, and you’ll be instructed to click the Next> button. Depending on the speed of your computer, it may take several seconds to bring up a list of all the programs you can automatically schedule to start on their own.
Scroll through the choices to find Disk Cleanup, and click on it once, and then click the Next> button. The next screen will ask you how often you want the task done. I usually select the Weekly choice. In the next screen, choose the time and day the task is to be performed. After clicking the Next> button again, you will be asked to select a user name and password. A user name will be included by default, and you will be asked to select a password. Even though the window indicates that if you don’t select a password the task may not start, this may be ignored. The fewer passwords one needs to remember, the better!
The Scheduled Task Wizard will now review what you have elected to do and when you’ve scheduled it to be done. Check the box to “open advanced properties for this task…” prior to clicking the Finish button. You’ll probably get an error message telling you that the task might not be completed for some reason, but there’s no need to panic. Just click the OK button.
A window will open with the name of the task you have selected to run. At the bottom of this window, check the box to “Run only if logged on”. If you don’t do this, your task won’t be able to run.
Once you click OK, you will notice that the maintenance task is now added to the list of scheduled tasks. This means that the task will now begin automatically on the day(s) and time(s) you have selected, but you may need to be present to provide “guidance” as the program runs. For example, Disk Defragmenter will start as scheduled, but without user input, it will not know exactly what you want done. Without your direction, it won’t be able to complete the desired task.
This process can be repeated to schedule a whole range of other maintenance tasks, and each can be adjusted to open at a particular time. The main benefit of scheduling tasks is that it serves as a reminder of necessary maintenance tasks needing to be done to keep your computer in top working order. We all have busy lives, and taking care of our computers often becomes one of the last things we do!
– Carlton Matteo, Adjunct Faculty Instructor