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The LangaList
Special Issue

Standard Edition

2003-10-27

A Free Email Newsletter from Fred Langa
That Helps You Get More From Your Hardware, 
Software, and Time Online

Please visit our sponsors and help keep the LangaList S.E. free!

1) Make Windows XP Self-Maintaining

It started as a small, offhand remark in " Quick Partial Defrag In XP" ( http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2003/2003-09-29.htm#5 ). I wrote, "I let my system do a full automated defrag every night (via Task Scheduler)...." To my surprise, I got a flood of reader email, all along the lines of this example:

I have just received your 2003-09-29 newsletter (Plus! Subscriber) and under item #5,
Quick Partial Defrag - I found your statement interesting about you running Defrag
Automatically every night using Task Scheduler.

I'm using WinXP Pro and I managed to schedule a Defrag using the Task Scheduler, but at best it only opens the Defrag application but doesn't automatically start the Defrag process. How do you automatically start the defrag process using the Task Scheduler?

I found one article somewhere in MS KB stating that the Defrag application requires user intervention to actually start it.

Thank you and keep up the great work! --- Charlie

The problem isn't in Defrag, which is indeed fully schedulable, but rather in the inconsistent way that Microsoft built front ends for XP's self-maintenance tools. For instance, XP includes a complete, automated "Wizard" for its Backup applet; the Wizard walks you through the process of setting up fully automated Backups via Task Scheduler. But there's no similar Wizard or built-in hooks to Task Scheduler for other tools, like Defrag.

This can create a kind of vicious circle of under-use for those latter tools. For example, Defrag can take hours to run, especially if it hasn't been run in a while. If the only obvious way to run it is to trigger it manually, many users won't bother because it's inconvenient and ties up the PC for lengthy periods. Over time, the PC's files become more and more fragmented--- scattered around the hard drive, piecemeal, instead of being stored in neatly contiguous wholes--- which leads to a loss in drive responsiveness, extra wear, extra noise and heat; and which can make some file-recovery operations (such as undeletes) less reliable. Because the drive is getting more and more fragmented, running Defrag would now take even longer to run, so the users put it off even more... on and on.

In contrast, when Defrag is used regularly, it usually only takes minutes--- not hours--- to run to completion, restoring normal performance and reducing wear, noise, and file recovery problems. Because that first use of Defrag can actually take several hours, you'd think that Microsoft would have made it easy to run Defrag as an automated task, say, in the middle of the night when the PC wasn't in use and when it wouldn't matter if it took a while to complete.

Microsoft didn't--- but we will. Indeed it's possible to fully automate Defrag and myriad other tasks in XP that don't have a built-in scheduler. In fact, you can make XP essentially self-maintaining!

That's the topic of the full-length feature article at http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=15600170 today: We'll start with the basics to make sure those new to Windows and XP are on board. But we'll end with some advanced ideas that can let your PC perform multiple automated unattended maintenance tasks of arbitrary complexity, and in whatever sequence you choose--- and all for free, using only the tools built into XP!

For example, if you want to have your PC automatically wake itself up every night at 3AM, clean up your hard drive, backup all your files, defrag every disk or partition in your system, and then go back to sleep--- no problem! In fact, it's easy, once you know how.

Let me show you how simple it can be, using Defrag as the working example. Just click on over to the free article at http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=15600170  for the full scoop. See you there!

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http://www.langa.com/sendit.htm

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2) "Special Issue?"

In "Murphy Lives!" ( http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2003/2003-10-23.htm#1 ), I mentioned how an email foul-up delayed the normal appearance of last week's InformationWeek column. I originally had intended to use this week for the normal monthly system maintenance I do to try to keep the wheels turning smoothly here, and to push along the long-delayed new version of BrowserTune ( http://www.browsertune.com/bt2kfast/ ).

Rather than let an email problem totally disrupt the schedule, I decided on this compromise: Instead of no newsletters at all this week, I'd send two abbreviated "Special Issues," focusing on the delayed InformationWeek column (above) and letting us get back to the normal schedule next Monday, as planned.

Stay tuned for more info!

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3) Plus! Edition Highlights:

• BrowserTune 6 Private Preview

• What is BrowserTune? What's Different?

• The Private Preview Details And URL

When complete, the new BrowserTune Version 6 will be released to the public. But for now, it's in private preview, available to Plus! subscribers only.

It's a total, 100% recode of the classic BT. Not a refresh or a touch up, we started with blank pages and did the entire 300-page BrowserTune site over, from scratch, so that the tests would serve well with all the current major browser on all the major operating system platforms. Netscape, Internet Explorer, Opera, Mozilla... Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, XP, Linux... on and on... they're all covered.

The Plus! edition gives you many extras like this, costs only pennies per issue, and comes with a MONEY BACK GUARANTEE from Fred. How can you lose? Check out the details: http://www.langa.com/plus.htm

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(Want to give a gift subscription to the LangaList Plus edition?
Click <a href= " http://www.langa.com/plus_gift.htm ">here</a>)

See you next issue!

Best,

Fred
( Editor@Langa.Com )

Please recommend the LangaList to a friend! (And maybe win a prize!)

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