Scheduling Your Maintenance

CAUTION

For a scheduled task to run, your computer has to be turned on during the scheduled maintenance periods. Windows XP will not turn on your PC for you! If your PC is turned off when maintenance is scheduled, the Scheduled Task utility simply skips that scheduled activity.

If you can never seem to find time to run basic system maintenance, you should be glad that Windows XP includes a Scheduled Tasks utility. This utility lets you automatically run various system maintenance tasks including Disk Defragmenter and Disk Cleanup while you're away from your computer.

To use this utility, click the Start button, then select All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Scheduled Tasks. When the Scheduled Tasks window opens, click the Add Scheduled Task icon. This launches the Scheduled Task Wizard. Follow the onscreen instructions to add a scheduled task.