Maintaining Desktop Health : Using Task Scheduler (part 3) - Creating New Tasks

6. Creating New Tasks

Before you create a task, you should create a new folder under the Task Scheduler Library to store the new task. To create a new Scheduled Tasks folder, follow these steps:

You can create tasks by using the Create Basic Task Wizard, or by manually using the Create Task interface. To create a new task using the Create Basic Task Wizard, follow these steps:

1.	Right-click the folder you created to store your tasks and select Create Basic Task to display the Create Basic Task Wizard, or select Create Basic Task in the Actions pane.
2.	Enter the name of the task, provide an optional description, and then click Next.
3.	On the Task Trigger page, specify when you want the task to start and then click Next. Some choices may require additional information to further define the trigger.
4.	On the Task Action page, specify an action for your task to perform and then click Next to specify action details.
5.	Options displayed on the next page depend on the action you selected on the previous page.
6.	After specifying the appropriate action details, click Finish to create the task and close the wizard.

To create a new task manually, follow these steps:

1.	Select the folder that the task will reside in and either right-click the folder and select Create Task or select Create Task in the Actions pane. Either action will display the Task Properties dialog with several tabs for the different task details. The General tab defines general information about the task:
2.	In the Name text box, enter a name for the task.
3.	In the Description text box, you can enter an optional task description or leave the box entry blank.
4.	Under Security options, select the appropriate options for the task: By default, the task will run under the security context of the currently logged-on user. To select a different security context, click Change User Or Group. Select either Run Only When User Is Logged On or Run Whether User Is Logged On Or Not. If you select Run Whether User Is Logged On Or Not and check the box Do Not Store Password, the task will use S4U and will not be able to access any resources outside the local computer. Select Run With Highest Privileges if the task must run with the highest privileges that the specified user account can obtain. If left unchecked, and if the user account is an administrative account, the task will run under User Account Control (UAC) with partial privileges.
5.	To hide the task from view by default, select the Hidden check box. You can still view hidden tasks by opening the View menu and selecting Show Hidden Tasks.
6.	By default, tasks are configured for Windows Vista, Task Scheduler compatibility. For backward compatibility, the list allows you to select Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, or Windows 2000 to define a task that is compatible with Task Scheduler v1.0.

Defining Triggers

The Triggers tab shown in Figure 3 allows users to view and configure one or more triggers that will launch the task. To define a new trigger, click the New button. To edit an existing trigger, select the trigger in the list and click Edit. To delete an existing trigger, select the trigger and click Delete.

Figure 3. Create New Trigger user interface.

In the New Trigger dialog, the Begin The Task drop-down list allows you to configure a task to begin based on the following trigger types:

• On A Schedule

• At Logon

• At Startup

• On Idle

• On an Event

• At Task Creation/Modification

• On Connection To or Disconnect From User Session

• On Workstation Lock or Unlock

The following sections explain trigger types and their corresponding settings in detail.

On A Schedule Trigger

The On A Schedule trigger configures the task to start on a defined schedule. Selecting the On A Schedule trigger type in the Begin The Task list displays the controls in the Settings group box to configure schedule parameters. Table 2 describes these controls.

At Log On Trigger

The At Log On trigger allows you to define a task to run when someone logs on to the computer. Selecting the At Log On trigger type in the Begin The Task list displays the controls in the Settings group box to configure schedule parameters. Table 3 describes these controls.

At Startup Trigger

This trigger causes the task to run when the computer starts up. The only settings for this trigger are the advanced settings described in the Advanced Settings section later in this section.

On Idle Trigger

The On Idle trigger configures the task to run when the computer becomes idle.

On An Event Trigger

The On An Event trigger type allows a user to define a task to execute on a specified Event Log event. To define the event trigger, the Settings group box provides two options : the Basic option allows for simple selection of a single event to be used as a trigger (by choosing the log, source and event ID identifiers for the event). The Custom option allows defining a more complex event filter by providing the New Event Filter button. Click the button to launch the Event Filter dialog (same as in Event Viewer) and define a more detailed event filter by time, level, source and so on.

At Task Creation/Modification Trigger

Selecting the At Task Creation/Modification trigger type in the Begin The Task list configures the task to start immediately when it is created or modified. No other condition is required and no further settings are displayed for this trigger.

On Connection To or Disconnect From User Session Triggers

The user session triggers cause a task to run when a user session is connected to or disconnected from the local computer or from a remote desktop connection. For example, when you connect to a user session on the local computer by switching users on the computer, this trigger will cause the task to run. Another example that can trigger a task to run is when a user connects to a user session by using the Remote Desktop Connection program from a remote computer. The trigger’s settings allow you to specify that the task should be triggered when any user connects or disconnects to a user session or when a specific user or user group member connects or disconnects.

Selecting the On Connection To User Session or the On Disconnect From User Session trigger types in the Begin The Task list displays the controls listed in Table 4 in the Settings group box.

On Workstation Lock or Unlock Triggers

Selecting the On Workstation Lock or the On Workstation Unlock trigger type in the Begin The Task list displays the controls listed in Table 5 in the Settings group box.

Defining Actions

When you create a task, you must configure one or more actions to run a program, script, or batch file, send an email or pop up a message when your task starts. The Actions tab allows you to define, view or modify actions for this task. To configure actions, click the Actions tab and then click New to display the New Action dialog, as shown in Figure 4.

To configure an action to start a program, script, or batch file, follow these steps:

To configure an action to send e-mail, follow these steps:

Open the Action list and select Send An E-mail to display the configuration options:

In the Settings group box, enter the required information listed in Table 6.

Defining Conditions

The Conditions tab displays different conditions for running tasks and allows you to define settings for these conditions. If you do not specify condition settings, designated defaults will be applied to the task. Conditions on this page are optional unless you have selected the On Idle trigger type. If you have selected this trigger type, you must configure Idle settings as described in this section.

Defining Settings

The Settings tab displays additional global settings for the task and allows you to define these settings. All settings on this page are optional. If you do not specify these settings, designated default values will be applied to the task.