Table Of Contents
This is the Fifth Step in the Fresh Computer Series.
- Update Windows (Optional)
- Automate Hard Drive Cleaning
- Automate Hard Drive Defragmentation
- Automate A Reboot
- Automatically Open Your Browser
- Conclusion
Schedule The Task
- Navigate to: Control Panel -> Scheduled Tasks -> Add Scheduled Task
(Alternately, you run this from the Run dialog: control schedtasks)
- Hit Next in the dialog box that opens.
- In the Scheduled Task Wizard, put this in the address bar:
C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE - Click Next. Set this to run Daily.
- Click Next. Enter the time and date for the task. Set the Start time for 6:30 AM and Perform the task Every Day.
- In the next screen, enter in the username and the password for your Windows user account [1].
- Click the Finish button. [2]
Next, we can proceed to Fresh Computer Series Step Five: Conclusion.
[1] This user needs to be a System Administrator.
[2] According to an MSDN blog, Internet Explorer does not support launching multiple sites natively, through the command line (Firefox 2 does). If you have setup multiple home pages in IE, they will all open up – you just can’t specify different ones from the command line.
I am glad you considered FF, because I do not use IE. I know…you have to focus on MS because you blog is about Windows Tips and Tricks.
Believe me, I’m not the biggest Microsoft supporter – actually, I’m all for free/open source products like Firefox, Open Office, etc.
Saman, I haven’t read through the comments on each of these posts but one thing to keep in mind is that if you ever change your password, you’ll need to remember to go back and update all of these tasks accordingly.
At work I typically try to request a domain service account as it is a nasty way to lock out your account when you change your domain password and forget to update any scheduled tasks.
That’s a great point! One could also use the computer’s administrator login/password as those don’t change very often.
I`m a newbie and would like to learn more. I was curious. I have my passwords enabled in my bios, so my hdd has a different password from the one i use to log onto my desktop. Which password should I use for my scheduled tasks? Do I need to remove my hdd password for this to work?
I guess it doesn’t really matter, use your Windows password.
When I power up my laptop, it prompts me for a password. After the first password, I get this message “Please Enter Built-in HDD User Password”. After that, the pc powers up and I get on my desktop where I have Dr. Dee as my username and then I enter another password to get to my desktop. These three passwords are all different. Which of these passwords should I use…or I need to get rid of the other two passwords?
Well, you don’t have to get rid of the other passwords, just use your Windows password, which sounds like its “Dr. Dee”