Vista Task Scheduler
Perhaps you don’t consciously use Task Scheduler, but the applications you use just may. As you know, the Task Scheduler lets you specify a schedule for the automated execution of commands. Not just at specified times either, there are several “triggers” besides a specified date/time schedule that may be leveraged here. Based on your preferences, applications (and even the Vista itself) may well have generated scheduled events on your system. To have a look…
Start > Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Administrative Tools > Task Scheduler
See current tasks by selecting a grouping in the tree view at the left of the screen: Task Scheduler (Local) > Task Scheduler Library > Microsoft
Here under Microsoft you should see a handful of items. Click on any of them to see if they have any triggers configured. You can either view or configure its properties from the many tabs displayed when it is selected, or if there is an existing item listed, you can double-click it to access its properties in a separate dialog.
Every aspect of the item can be reviewed or manipulated from here, the history tab even shows you at what times it has been triggered.
In addition to those placed there by Microsoft, applications may also schedule tasks such as to check for updates as many will see listed in a scheduled task placed there by Apple’s iTunes or QuickTime software installation. If you do not wish to check for updates, you can simply delete this scheduled task, or you can tell it to check more frequently (by default it checks once per week). Naturally, this is also exposed in the preferences of the application—but rather than only being able to check when the application is launched, using a scheduled task allows it to check for updates even if you seldom execute the program.
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