In an era dominated by smart technology, we are missing out on various things if we aren’t doing the automation correctly. iOS has a powerful and fully-features shortcut app to automate multiple tasks at a time; Android has its own Tasker app for automating the tasks. But they are for smartphones, so what about computers?
Well, Windows 10 operating system is the latest update from Microsoft. The operating system is the most popular and widely used operating system because of its incredible features and outstanding user experience. The operating system comes with its own tool known as Task Scheduler, which enables users to perform multiple tasks, events, etc. at a time.
So in this post, we have bucketed a detailed guide on how you can use Windows 10 for automation fo the tasks. So without any further delay, let’s get started.
Windows 10 Automation
But before proceeding further, let us explain some points regarding windows 10. Two methods can do windows 10 automation. The first one is known as a Task Scheduler, which is a fundamental tool and pretty straightforward to use. The second method of automation is PowerShell, which is a bit complicated but fully-featured tool.
Windows 10 Automation Using Task Scheduler
As mentioned earlier, Windows 10 Task Scheduler is a straightforward way to automate the tasks in Windows 10 operating system, so below, we will implement a basic task. For instance, let’s suppose that when you turn on your PC, you launch a browser and then open your favorite websites.
We now have to automate this task by Task Scheduler to save time. To do this below is a step-by-step guide;
- Open the Task Scheduler from your computer by clicking the Start menu and then typing the Task Scheduler. You can pin it to your taskbar to instantly open it again when you need this. If it is your first time, then you might find it complicated. Don’t worry; you will be familiar with it by following these steps.
- To create a new task, now click on the Create New Task option located at the right panel.
- It will ask you to assign a name to your task you are creating. Assign it a name of your choice and tick the box saying Run with highest privileges, so that it will not ask for you for administration permission before executing the task.
- Now head over to the Trigger tab at the top of the window and click the New option.
- Select “At log on” option from the dropdown list, and then press the Ok option. You can also delay the task when you start your computer for a few minutes by choosing it from the Advanced Settings dropdown list below.
- Now navigate to the Actions tab and press the New option.
- Click on the Start a program option from the dropdown list.
- As we are creating a program for our web browser, such as Chrome, click on the Browse option and select Google Chrome from its location.
- Type your favorite website URL in the Add argument text box and then click on the Ok option. If you want to add multiple websites in the box, you need to add a space after every URL to enter another URL.
- Chrome will launch these websites that you have typed earlier in the text box as soon as you turn on your PC.
- After that, go to the Conditions tab and un-tick the options in the Power area to allow Task Scheduler to run your tasks irrespective of the power status of your PC.
- Now navigate to the Settings tab and make sure to check the box saying, Allow task to be run on-demand option and press the Ok option.
- Congratulation, now you have successfully created a task for your Task Scheduler to open your web browser and then set off to open your favorite website you have typed earlier in the task as soon as you log in to your computer.
- To view your task in the Task Scheduler, you need to open the Task Scheduler and then click on the Task Scheduler Library option located at the left panel of the window.
If you want to create more tasks, such as automatically open a new MS Word file, play a song from your music collection, open a game installed on your computer, etc. when you log in to your computer. You can follow the very same process to create a new task in Windows 10 Task Scheduler. The only changes that you have to make when creating a new task are in the Actions and Triggers tabs, and apart from that, everything will remain the same as stated above. You can play with other Task Scheduler options to understand it better.
Windows 10 Automation Using PowerShell
Apart from Windows 10 Task Scheduler feature, it also includes another native feature for task automation known as PowerShell. Unlike Task Scheduler, this process is a bit complicated and versatile. You can do a lot of automation using a few commands. It isn’t hardcore programming, so no need to worry about anything. So let’s begin.
If you want to open your favorite websites on a Chrome browser using PowerShell, you just need to type a PowerShell command. To start this program by PowerShell, just type Start-Process “Chrome.exe” “your website URL.” Here, Start-Process command is used to start a program, followed by your web browser name and then the URL of websites you want to run. You might find this process quite similar to Task Scheduler, so let’s proceed further.
- Open Notepad from your computer and type Start-process “Chrome.exe” “your favorite website URL.”
- If you are using any other browser than Chrome, just replace the name in the command.
- Now navigate to the File menu of the Notepad or press Ctrl-S from keyboard to save the file. Assing a name to your file with .ps1 extension.
- After this, launch Task Scheduler and create a new task. You can do this by following the above mentioned 1-5 steps.
- On the Actions tab, select Start a program option and type Powershell.exe in the text box.
- Now type the path of your Notepad file you have saved earlier in the Add arguments text box—Press Ok option.
- Now you have defined the Action part of PowerShell script. Follow 9-12 steps, as stated in the Task Scheduler section above, and proceed further to test the script using the Run option.
Conclusion
Windows 10 offers an outstanding user experience with a whole lot of customizations. This is a step-by-step guide of how to automate tasks in Windows 10 using Task Scheduler and PowerShell to save your time. If you find this post helpful, comment below to share your thoughts with us.
FAQ
Q: How do I automate tasks in Windows 10?
Ans: To automate the tasks in Windows 10, you can use its PowerShell or Task Scheduler features.