If you regularly want to perform the same tasks on your PC, you can of course include this in your agenda and then start that task yourself each time. But why make it difficult when you can do it easily? It can be done fully automatically, Windows has a handy Task Scheduler that can take all kinds of chores off your hands.
Tip 01: Handyman service
When Windows starts up, all kinds of processes, programs and services are started in the background. The Windows Task Manager gives you an overview: press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open the Task Manager. View the tabs Processes, Startup and Services to see what is already running or started right after startup.
There are also many tasks that are automatically performed by Windows or by various applications, but which do not remain active in the background. This happens very often at system startup or when a user logs in, but it can also happen periodically or under certain conditions. It involves a wide variety of tasks, such as performing updates, defragmenting or optimizing a drive, creating backups, and so on. Some programs use their own task scheduler (scheduler) for this, but in most cases they make grateful use of the Task Scheduler provided by Windows.
Tip 02: Interface
You start the Task Scheduler by pressing the Windows key, typing a few initial letters (such as task) and the app Task Scheduler to select. Or you press Windows key + R and you enter taskschd.msc from. The window that now appears has three parts. On the left are the 'libraries' in a tree structure. Those libraries are folders that can each contain one or more scheduled tasks. If you select such a (sub)folder, an overview of the associated tasks will appear in the central panel. The right panel contains an overview of the actions you can perform within this Task Scheduler. Logically, you will also find options here with which you can schedule a new task yourself.
To prevent your own tasks from ending up in a random library folder, we recommend that you create your own folder first. Right click in the left panel on Task Scheduler Library, choose New map and enter a name (we choose Tips&Tricks). The folder appears at the bottom of the list. When you are going to add your own task, you first select this folder in the future.
Most scheduled tasks consist of one or more actions and triggers Tip 03: Features
Before we get started with our own tasks, it is good to check which tasks are currently available. You will notice that most of the tasks are in the folder Microsoft especially in the subfolders of the Windows folder.
If you want more details about a particular task, double-click on that task in the middle panel. It is divided into a number of tabs. Two tabs require your special attention: Triggers and Actions. Actions are the actions performed by such a task, usually executing a program or command with any parameters. The tab Triggers records when the action is performed, such as when the computer starts up or when a user logs on. On the tab Conditions you can define secondary criteria for a task to be performed or not, such as Only start the job if the computer is running on AC power.
Total overview
If you want a complete overview of all scheduled tasks in one go, you can use the TaskSchedulerView tool (available for Windows 32 and 64 bit). Scroll down on that page for the Dutch translation (English): you put the extracted file in the folder of TaskSchedulerView.
Then right click on the tool and choose Run as administrator. You now get a nice task overview. That can be quite impressive by the way: on our test device there were almost 250. To quickly filter out Microsoft's own tasks, open the menu Options and put a check in Hide tasks in Microsoft folders (on our PC there were now about thirty tasks left).
You walk through the steps with a wizard to set up the basic task Tip 04: Basic task trigger
Now is the time to get started and schedule your own task. In the Actionspanel, two options are available for a new task: Create basic task and Create task. The difference is that with the first option you walk through the steps with a wizard, so that you are not confronted with all kinds of extras that you may not need after all. We start carefully and so choose Create basic task – you can always add extras afterwards from the properties window of such a 'basic task' (see tip 3).
Suppose you want your computer to shut down automatically at a certain time, such as late at night. First of all, make sure you have a clear Name for your task and possibly a Description. as soon as you click Next one press, put the trigger fixed. In this case, choose here Daily (it can also be weekly, if you sign up or if something specific happens, see also tip 7). Confirm with Next one and enter the desired time. The option Every: Run 1 day(s) is left untouched. Press . again Next one.
Tip 05: Basic task action
Now you need to define the correct action. In Windows 10, that is limited to Start a program. After all, the other two options (Send an email message and View a message) are no longer functional. Confirm again with Next one.
For our action, Windows already has a command on board. click on To leaf through and navigate to the folder C:\Windows\System32, where you shutdown.exe select and with To open confirms. Its a shame, but there is nothing to do about it: shutdown will not work without the necessary parameters. You therefore have to fill it in yourself at Add parameters (optional). You get a nice overview of the available parameters if you go to the command prompt and there shutdown but we'll give you a helping hand with this:
-s -t 60 -c "The PC will shut down in one minute. So save all your data asap!"
These parameters can be unraveled as follows:
-s: close completely, and therefore not -h (hibernate), -hybrid, -l (log out) or -r (Restarting).
- t 60: run in 60 seconds.
-c "…": Show the text between the quotes as a notification.
Press Next one and on Complete, the task will be added to your selected folder. By the way, you can test it right away by entering the Actionspanel on To carry out to click.
Tip 06: Optimization
As mentioned, you can always edit an existing task by double-clicking it. Do that for the task we just created. On the tab General, at the part Security options, is the option by default Run only if user is logged in active. But you may also want to have the PC shut down when the login window is visible. Then choose the option in this window Run regardless of whether user is logged in or not. You can also see with which user account the task is performed. Normally this is the account you were logged in with when creating the task.
Now, however, due to an annoying bug when closing the properties window, the error message "An error has occurred for task x […]" appears. In that case, press the button Modify and tap you Give the names of the objects enter the (desired) username and confirm with OK. Now basically appears \, which should be enough to stop seeing the error message popping up. By the way, you can also open the account here SYSTEM Selecting. This automatically has more permissions and in principle also has access to all files, which can be useful, for example, when scheduling backups.
It is also possible to define multiple triggers and/or actions within the same task. On the tabs Triggers and Actions press the button for this New, and then fill in the options as you see fit.
Tip 07: Advanced Task
Time now for a more complex operation: we want to run a task, such as a backup or synchronization task, as soon as our PC or laptop connects to a certain (wireless) network.
Click in the Actionspanel already up Create task, so that an 'empty' properties window appears. First provide a name and description and choose a suitable account (possibly SYSTEM: see tip 6). On the tab Actions select via the button New the intended backup command or program with any parameters - which ones they are, of course, depends on the tool you use for your backups.
Now on to the trickiest part: the trigger. To do this, open the tab Triggers and click New. In the drop-down menu at Start this task select you At an event. After all, our task should only be performed once the computer connects to a specific network.
In this window you should now just select the desired event (source and id) from the log. For our trigger these are normally respectively: Microsoft-Windows-NetworkProfile/Operational, NetworkProfile (Source) and 10000 (Event ID). After your confirmation with OK open the tab Conditions and choose you at Start only if the following network connection is available, the correct network is off. A pity but alas: for unclear reasons this method no longer works in Windows 10 and we have to look for an alternative. See the next tip.
Tip 08: Trigger script
So we adjust our strategy for the intended trigger. Choose again At an event, but this time select Amended and click New event filter. A new dialog box will appear, where you can select the tab XML opens. Place a checkmark Search manually, confirm with Yes and enter exactly the following script:
*[System[(EventID=10000)]] and *[EventData[(Data[@Name="Name"]="my_ssid")]]
Of course you replace in this script my_ssid by the correct network name. You can find out by hovering the mouse pointer over the network icon in the Windows taskbar. After entering your script, confirm with OK (2x) and you may close the properties window.
Feel free to test your task, for example by disconnecting your network connection (with a wired connection this can be done simply by removing the network connector from your PC).
Tip 09: Alternative
You notice it: with the Windows task scheduler quite advanced tasks are possible, but things quickly become complex. If things get a little too complicated, a handy alternative is Z-Cron, which is free for personal use. Here's how to get started in a nutshell.
Extract the downloaded zip file, install the tool and launch it. To schedule a new task, press the button Task. Here you will find the usual ingredients with slightly different names, such as Label, Description, Program and Parameter. What is ideal about Z-Cron is that a list of about a hundred predefined tasks appears with a click on Tools, including CopyDir, LockMyPc, Mail, Message, MP3-Play, and SendLogFile.
Where it is no longer possible in Windows 10 to send an e-mail during a certain event, it is still possible here via Mail. Logically, you must first determine the settings of the mail server, you do that from the section Program, on the tab E-mail.
On the tab planner determine the exact times at which a task must be performed. Compared to the Windows Task Scheduler, the number of trigger types here is a lot more limited.
Good to know: if you want Z-Cron to work even if no one is logged in to Windows, open the section Program, go to the tab Start, put a check next to Z-Cron as NT service and confirm with Save.
