Windows 2000 Administration in a Nutshell

Name

Scheduled Tasks

Synopsis

Schedules tasks to run automatically.

To Launch

• Start → Settings → Control Panel → Scheduled Tasks

• Start → Programs → Accessories → System → Scheduled Tasks

Description

Scheduled Tasks opens a folder that by default contains only one icon, Add Scheduled Task, which starts a wizard to help you schedule a task. The wizard leads you through the following steps:

• Select a common task from the list, or browse to locate any executable.

• Give the task a descriptive name so you will remember what it does (important if you schedule a lot of tasks).

• Specify when the task should execute:

  • Daily at a specific time, weekdays only, or every n th day

  • Weekly on a specific day(s) at a specific time for n weeks

  • Monthly on a specific month(s) at a specific day or date

  • Only once (specify date and time)

  • Whenever your computer restarts

  • Whenever you log on

• Enter your credentials to authorize the task to run.

You can further configure your task by selecting the “Open Advanced properties for this task when I click finish” checkbox. For example, you may need to specify certain command-line switches for your task to run properly; enter these in the Run text box on the Task tab of your task’s property sheet. Enclose the executable and switches with double quotes if there are spaces in the path or command syntax.

Tip

Task Scheduler is actually just a GUI for the old reliable at command. If you create a task using the at command, it appears in the Scheduled Tasks folder as ATxxxx, where xxxx is a numeric ...