Scheduled Tasks in Windows is an easy to use and convenient feature.  You can schedule documents or programs to run at a certain time that you select.  This feature is particularly useful to perform routine maintenance by scheduling when to run defrag, disk cleanup, anti-virus scan, firewall scan, or registry cleaners. You can also schedule when to open various types of software you use all the time.  For example, when to run a messenger program or when to open email.

To access Scheduled Tasks click Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools then Scheduled Tasks. The task setup wizard will pop up, click Next.  On the next screen select what task you want to schedule.  For example, say you want to schedule Disk Cleanup, you would check the box next to Disk Cleanup and click Next.  On the next screen select when you want the task to be done.

Check either daily, weekly, monthly, when my computer starts or when I log on.  The following screen allows you to select what day of the week.  This applies if you selected weekly or monthly.  If you choose weekly the next screens asks how often whether every week, every two weeks, every three weeks, etc, click Next.  The next screen asks you what time you want the task to start and what time you want it to end, click Next.

Next is the confirmation screen that you scheduled a task, what the task is and the starting and ending times, click Finish.  A window will pop up saying a task has been scheduled.

When scheduling tasks take into consideration how long the task will take to complete.  You don't want a task in routine maintenance to end too soon before it completes the procedure.  You also don't want a task to end before the scheduled end time.  This can result in Schedule Tasks staying open longer than it needs to possibly taking memory away from another program.

If you think this has the possibility of happening, click the Advanced Options box before clicking Finish.  Advanced Options allows you to change the configuration of a task or how long it normally takes a particular task to perform.  Click Properties, then the Schedule tab where you can change how long a task runs or if the computer should be idle before the task is performed.  

Most functions cannot perform again or repeat in less than a 24-hour period.  If you want to change this and have a task perform say twice in one day or once an hour, go into Schedule, Advanced and check the Repeat Task box then schedule how often you want the task to repeat in a 24-hour period or less.

Using Scheduled Tasks get easier to use the more you use it.  It's a great feature to use to schedule all routine maintenance for your computer.  Try letting your computer on overnight and schedule tasks to run during this time frame.  Since most maintenance like disk cleanup or defrag or even scans can take awhile it might be a good idea to schedule them to run overnight.