Windows Task Scheduler is a useful tool to manage automation of various tasks that need to be periodically performed on a Windows PC. It is a hands-off method to schedule tasks so that you do not have to concern yourself with them. Cleaning the hard drive, defragmenting the hard drive and running chkdsk.exe are just a few of the maintenance tasks that the Windows user needs to perform to keep their computers running smoothly. This article focuses on creating an automatic schedule for chkdsk.exe to run. You will need to create a Task Scheduler job to run chkdsk.exe automatically.

Keep in mind that chkdsk.exe will not be able to run if the drive is being used.

Open the Task Scheduler by typing “Task Scheduler” or “Scheduler” in the search box in the Start Menu. Select Task Scheduler from the menu and press Enter.

Select “Create a Task” and name the task along with a description in the appropriate fields. In this case, it is not necessary to specify a location for the task. It is necessary to “Configure for” the version of Windows being used.

Click the Actions tab. The following screen will be presented.

Click New.

When you enter the Program/script, go ahead and enter the argument /R after chkdsk.exe. This will ensure that the computer restarts and performs the disk check on the appropriate drive. Otherwise, your computer will simply shutdown and you will have to manually turn it on for the disk check to start. Remember to indicate the disk to be checked. In this example, the drive is / C:

Click OK and you will be asked if you wish to include the arguments. Click Yes. Notice that the action is completed along with the arguments in the proper order. Now click the General tab. Be sure to configure for the operating system that you are using. In this case, it is Windows 7.

Now click the Triggers tab to set the frequency of the automatic disk check. Monthly is probably sufficient. You can select just a few months or all months. Next you will have to specify the day of the month. You also need to specify when you want this trigger to start. By default, it begins immediately. Set the time of day for an hour when the computer will be on but you will not be using it.

Click OK. The next screen shows that the task is scheduled and enabled. Click OK. When you are finished, you see the main Task Scheduler window again. You will see the task listed in the Task Scheduler Library if everything was done correctly.

In the Start menu search box, enter “task scheduler” or “schedule tasks”, whichever works, and press enter. This opens the task scheduler dialog box.

Click on Action and in the dropdown menu, choose Create Basic Task. This opens the Create Basic Task Wizard. Give the task a memorable name and a description, keep it direct and simple and easy to recall.

At this point, if you have not done so already, decide how often you want the Disk Cleanup utility to run. You can choose Daily, Monthly, or one time. For the following example, daily is selected because the PC being used in this example runs a heavy load of internet traffic and overall use. If the PC is being used for home business purposes, it might be wise to schedule daily Disk Cleanup in order to ensure that data is not stolen by rogue malware. Also, set a system restore point before applying these changes.

Press Next. Choose the start date. This is usually going to be “today” but you can set it to begin at a later date. Choose the start time. Keep in mind that you do not want this utility running while you are going to be using the computer for something that cannot be interrupted. Schedule it when you know there will be a break when the PC will not be in use.

Select Action and click “Start a program” then click Next.

Type cleanmgr.exe in the Program/script box, and /d driveletter in the add arguments box and click Next. Replace driveletter with the letter of the drive that you want to run the disk cleanup on.

This is the confirmation for the scheduled program, including name, description, and time interval settings for the trigger:

Any time interval can be selected, customized to the needs of the user. Windows 7 offers some versatile tools for customization and this is definitely one to take advantage of. Set the time for the scheduled Disk Cleanup for a time that you know the computer will be on an awake. The utility will not run when the PC is off.

Overall, since it is necessary to use the Disk Cleanup utility regularly, this gives the user the option to set it and forget about it. This is one for the geek in all of us.

The first idea that I had was to run Autoruns to see if the task was listed in the program.

To do that run Autoruns and switch to the Scheduled Task tab. You should see some, but not all, of the tasks configured on the system. The task that caused the corruption error was unfortunately not in the list.

The next step was the Windows Registry. All scheduled Windows tasks, custom and default, have an entry in the Registry.

Open the Windows Registry Editor. An easy way to do that is to press Windows-r to open the run box, type in regedit and hit enter. Navigate to the following key in the tree structure in the folder view on the left side.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Schedule\TaskCache\Tree

You will see a list of scheduled tasks, more than what Autoruns displayed in its interface. The task that is causing the error message when opening the Task Scheduler should be listed as a folder underneath the Tree folder.

My advise is to backup the Registry key first before you start deleting it. Right-click the key that is causing the problems and select Export. The Registry Editor saves the key and all of its information in a Registry file on the system. A double-click on that file imports the information back to the Registry. Please note that you need the right permissions to import the Registry information into that structure.

Once you have backed up the Registry key you can delete it by selecting it with the left mouse button and a tap on the delete key.

Restart your Task Scheduler to see if that fixed the issue. If you do not get the The Task Image Is Corrupt Or Has Been Tampered With error anymore you have fixed the issue. If it still appears double-check the Registry again to see if the key has really been deleted.

But what exactly does it mean, idle? I had troubles answering that question. I knew that it had to do with the resource utilization and user interaction, but was not able to provide exact figures.

That sparked my interest and I managed to get the data. Here is the definition of idle in the Windows operating system:

The computer is considered to be idle by Windows if there has not been user interaction via the mouse or keyboard for a given time and if the hard drives and processors have been idle more than 90% of that time.

The Task Scheduler in Windows 7 for instance considers the computer to be idle if the above states returned true for a period of ten minutes.

There are a few exceptions to that rule. Applications may set a flag that prevents the computer from idle mode. Another possibility are low priority processes that may be ignored by the Windows 7 Task Scheduler. But that appears to be a Windows 7 only rule.

To paraphrase; The computer enters idle mode if

• users have not interacted with it for a period of ten minutes
• and if in the same time period the processor and hard drive utilization has been idle as well for at least 90% of the time

Additional information about Task Idle conditions are available at a Microsoft MSDN Library page.

The portable software program can be used by a system user or administrator to configure tasks that need to be run once a day. The program is easier to use than the Windows Task Scheduler which is one of its greatest strengths.

Each task consists at least of a command and arguments. It is for instance possible to run the Firefox web browser by pointing the command to the firefox.exe on the computer system. The argument could be to open an url with the web browser right away.

That’s a basic example. Once A Day can basically execute any executable program in Windows and pass arguments to it.

The state of the window can be configured in the program as well as a wait until the program finished to execute.

Experienced computer users can perform these tasks with the Windows Task Scheduler as well but Karen’s Once A Day presents everything in one window making it somewhat easier to configure.

The software program can be downloaded from Karen’s website. It is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system.

It also did feel strange that Google needed a process to update their programs while other companies like Mozilla did not. Especially if the only software by Google was their web browser Google Chrome.

Google has announced changes yesterday that will please many computer users. They basically changed Google Update from running in the background permanently to a process that would check for updates periodically which basically eliminates the googleupdate.exe process in the background as it will terminate after the check for updates.

Users can check the Task Scheduler in the Windows Control Panel to change the frequency of the update checks. The Google team points out that the process might be running continuously on some computer systems if problems are encountered with the task scheduler and Windows Services.