id you know it's possible to automate tasks in Microsoft Office with the help of macros? If not, click here for a complete guide courtesy of Support PCs.

 

   This functionality is built into Microsoft Office, but what about other parts of Windows? Thankfully it's possible to automate just about any aspect of your computing, and you won't need to pay a penny to do it.

 

   If you want to run a specific program on a regular basis, you'll find Windows XP's own Scheduled Tasks utility fits the bill perfectly, but if you want to go further and extend the use of macro-like functions to any program or part of Windows XP, you'll need a free tool called AutoHotKey, which we cover in part two of this tutorial. It's not as intuitive as Office's macro tool, but we'll show you how to get the best results from it.

 

Certain programs run, perform a task and then shut themselves down. One such example is your anti-virus program's scanning facility - it launches, scans your system for viruses, and then closes down when it's finished. Other programs - like Windows Disk Defragmenter utility - can be fed specific commands to perform tasks automatically (in this case, the program runs and automatically defragments your hard drive before closing).

 

   In both cases, Windows' Scheduled Tasks utility can be set to launch them automatically at set intervals. Some tools - such as Norton Internet Security - already use Scheduled Tasks to perform specific actions like scanning for viruses or running a back-up job.

 

   The simplest way to use Task Scheduler is in conjunction with your program - look for an option within it to set up automatically recurring tasks. If this doesn't exist, you can create your own through the Scheduled Tasks Utility, although this assumes the program you wish to run can do so without any interaction from you, such as Windows' own System Restore tool. The step-by-step guide below reveals how to set up a new scheduled task and configure it to your personal satisfaction.

If you want to use the utility to run Windows maintenance tasks automatically, then Microsoft has published a number of Knowledge Base articles that explain how to schedule Windows maintenance tasks. To defragment your hard drive at regular intervals, click here; if you want to run Disk Cleanup automatically at set times, click here instead.

 

   One last thing: if you want to wake up your PC for a specific task, you'll need to assign your user account a password, even if you're the only user of your PC. The step-by-step guide below reveals how to avoid problems should your task require a system restart to complete.