When you're using Windows, do you find yourself performing the same tasks over and over? If so, you're not alone.
Although computers are designed to make short work of repetitive tasks, few people take the time to learn how to cut down on repetition and win back some time in the process. Read on for some ideas on how to do just that
Q: How do I automate a series of tasks in Windows that involve different programs?
A: Unfortunately, Windows has no such built-in automation tool. So your best option here is probably to turn to a third-party utility that makes it fairly easy to boil down a bunch of reptitive tasks into one keystroke.
If your repetitive tasks simply involve launching a bunch of programs, you can turn to a free utility such as Batchrun ( >http://bit.ly/dTp5rW ). Batchrun simplifies the job of creating batch files, which are files that contain a series of commands that Windows can recognise and run without user intervention.
However, for more complex repetitive tasks that you’d like to automate, check out WinAutomation ( >http://www.winautomation.com ), which gives you a couple of options for automating tasks. You can use the program’s “macro recorder” to record mouse clicks and keystrokes, and then play back the results. Or you can use the tool’s job designer, which lets you “build” a shortcut that can perform all sorts of complex actions, including launching programs, opening dialog boxes, entering data, and much more. The program is not free, but you can download it and try it out for free for a month. If you regularly spend a lot of time performing the same tasks each day, you might find the 149 dollar purchase price to be money well spent.
Q: How can I set my computer up to reboot automatically each night?
Windows comes with a little-known application called Shutdown.exe.
You can use it in conjunction with Windows’ built-in scheduler either to shut down or restart your PC at any specified time.
To set this up, open the Start menu, type “scheduled tasks” and click the first entry that appears. Or, if you’re using Windows XP, open the Control Panel and double-click the Scheduled Tasks icon.
Once the task scheduler starts, add a new task. When, in the course of adding the task, you are asked which application you want Windows to run, click the Browse button, and browse to Windows and then the System32 subfolder. Within Sytem32, you will find shutdown.exe.
Double click that to add it to the task scheduler, and complete the task scheduling wizard.
When you’ve finished adding the task, right-click the new task name, and select Properties from the pop-up menu. In the resulting Properties dialog box, place the mouse cursor at the end of the command in the Run text box, add a space, and then type “/r,” without the quotation marks. The “/r” means that the shutdown command should restart your computer rather than shutting it down. While you are in the Properties dialog box, you can also click the Schedule tab to fine-tune when the automated restart procedure occurs.
Q: How can I create a batch file to launch a bunch of programs at one time?
A: Batch files have been around since the days of DOS, and Windows still recognises them as special files intended to deliver a series of commands that should be executed in succession. Opening a series of programs consecutively is one way to use batch files.
Start by opening Notepad, which you’ll find by opening the Start menu and typing “notepad.” A blank text editing window appears. On the first line, type “@echo off,” without the quotation marks. On the next line, type the word “start,” again without quotation marks. Add a space. Then, within quotation marks, add the full path and filename of the executable used to launch your program. You can find this information by right-clicking the shortcut (or icon) that you normally use to launch the application, selecting Properties from the pop-up menu, and from the Shortcut tab of the resulting dialog box, copying the text that appears in the Target box. Paste that text, including quotation marks, just after the space you added after the word “start.” Here’s an example of how the final line should look: start “C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 9.0\Acrobat\Acrobat.exe” Create a new “start” line for the next application you’d like to launch, and repeat the procedure above to complete the line. Add a new line for each application you would like to start.
Now save the file on your Windows desktop with a name such as “myapps.bat.” Be sure to include the ”.bat” after the name of the file. Otherwise Windows will not know how to run it. When you’re finished, double-clicking the myapps.bat file on your desktop should launch all of the programs listed in it automatically.
