Use the System Schedule to make Windows XP perform routine tasks at times when you aren’t normally using the computer. This prevents resource-intensive processes, such as defragmenting your hard drive, from slowing all your other applications to a crawl. Choose Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and Scheduled Tasks. Double-click Add Scheduled Task to display the Scheduled Task Wizard. Click Next and then work through the steps to select a program and time you want it to automatically run.

An example of a good use of schedule tasks could also be to run nightly batch files which perform data backups for you. Yes, there are third-party programs out there which can automate your backups, but using batch files gives you ultimate flexibility and they are free. By combining batch files with a utility like WinRar (http://www.rarlab.com/), you can create compressed archives of all of your data automatically. From there, have it move over to a network drive, or if your FTP client has a command line interface, maybe you can FTP the backup to another location via your batch file, too.

I covered some of this in a little more detail back in our PC Mechanic newsletter issue #7. You can view it in our archives at http://www.pcmech.com/newsletter/viewissue.php?issueid=7&type=html.