9 Message workaround
Create a new Basic Task, and set it to run five minutes before
the Logoff task every Friday. There’s an app in System32 called
msg.exe, which displays a message on the screen. Choose it and
type your message in the Add Arguments box preceded by a
and a space, so: Log off and go home. If you forget the *. At the
trigger time, your message appears in the middle of the screen.
7
Task properties
Your task has an associated Properties window (accessible
by right-clicking the task on the left). In this window, you can set
which users are affected by the task. You can edit the name and
descriptions, too, and all the data ascribed to the task, such as the
trigger. You can take it further, specifying whether the PC needs
to be plugged in, or idle, for the task to start.
5
Choose a task
The Basic Task wizard really only has one option for what
tasks can be: ‘Start a program’. There are two other options, ‘Send
an e-mail’ and ‘Display a message’, but they’re deprecated and
probably won’t be there much longer. Luckily, in Windows 10, a
lot of things are considered programs, such as shutting down
or restarting the PC. Click ‘Browse’ to choose one.
10 Delete a task
To stop a task from running, you can either disable it or
delete it. Both can be achieved through the right-click menu in
the Scheduler window – click the task you want to stop, then
choose either Disable or Delete from the right-click menu. Choose
Disable and the task’s status will change in the list. To delete it,
you’ll be asked if you’re sure. Click ‘Yes’ and it’s gone forever. Q8
Display a message
The logoff task we’ve created occurs without warning, no
matter what you’re doing, and whether you’ve saved your work or
not. It would be polite, therefore, to warn the user of what’s about
to happen. Message sending is deprecated, however: it’s still there
but it doesn’t work, throwing up a cryptic error message. As a
workaround, use an option that does work: running a program.6 Choose a program
By default, the File Explorer window that appears shows the
System32 folder – a Windows folder that’s full of sub-folders and
mysterious EXE and DLL files. It helps to know what you’re looking
for, so you can search for it rather than scroll through the items
found there. We want logoff.exe, which does what you’d expect,
with no warning. Click ‘Next’, then Finish, to complete the process.38 |^ |^ May 2019