For those that don’t know, most versions of Windows have come with some form of task scheduler, and Windows 7 is no exception; if you have tasks you’d like your computer to perform during times when you’re not using it, the task scheduler can make that happen for you.

To use the task scheduler, first bring it up by clicking on the Start button, then type in “task scheduler” in the search box:

Click on it to run the program; it should look like this:

Note how the Task Scheduler is divided into three panes, one to provide an overview, one to show task status, and one for the menus that you can use to create your own tasks.

Note: There may be some tasks showing that you didn’t create or run, these are created and run by other software programs.

To create your own task, it’s best to start with something basic, click where it says Create Basic Task, you should get this screen:

Type a name for the task in the top window, in this case, we’ll use “Back Up the Whole Computer.” Next, fill in a little bit of information in the Description field:

Click the Next button, and you should get this next screen:

This screen is called the Task Trigger screen because it allows you to define what will cause the task to run, i.e. the trigger. Choose the option that best suits your task, then click the Next button.

After clicking Next, you’ll get a different screen depending on what you chose on the Task Trigger screen. In this example we chose to run our backup routine once a month, now Task Scheduler needs to know more specifically when to run, so we fill in the fields:

Here we’ve told Task Scheduler to start right away, to perform the task every month, and to do it on the first.

Once you’ve filled in all your fields, click Next, which will bring you to the Action Page. Task Scheduler needs to know what exactly you want to do on the time and date you’ve scheduled. In our example, we want to run a program that will back up our computer, so we leave the bubble checked that says Start a program:

….then click the Next button, to get this screen:

Task Scheduler is waiting for us to browse to the program that we use for backing up our computer. In this case, we’ll run a program called, BackIt, and we don’t have any arguments to send it, so we simply click the Next button and get the Summary screen:

Clicking on Finish brings us back to the main Task Scheduler Window.

Your task will run at the time and date you set.

To see your task in the queue, click where it says Active Tasks, then scroll down till you see yours in the list

If there are no other system tasks scheduled, yours should be the only one that shows up.

Most tasks that you’d like to create using Task Scheduler can be run in similar fashion.

Note: Your computer has to be on and “awake” for the task you’ve created to run at the time specified.

Via online-tech-tips.com