Windows Tip: How to Automatically Start and Shutdown Applications
Wild-Webs, Inc. February 09, 2007
Many of the tasks we perform on our PC's and networks each day are boring, but necessary. If only there was a way to automate them. Fortunately, this is possible, and often the first step is to learn how to start and shut down programs at pre-selected times.
It's a fairly easy task to start and shut down a Windows application using the Windows Task Scheduler. In both cases you can use the Windows Task Scheduler (Start - Settings - Control Panel - Scheduled Tasks) to create a new task to run at the desired time.
For example to start Microsoft Outlook each day at 8:00 am, you would create a new task to start the program outlook.exe. In the Scheduled Task Wizard you would either select Microsoft Outlook from the list of programs, of use the Browse button to find the program.
The process of shutting down a program is less widely known, and uses the Windows "taskkill" command. To see a complete list of options available for taskkill, run the command "taskkill /?" from the command window (Start - Programs - Accessories - Command Prompt).
For example, to shut down Microsoft Outlook, you will need to:
Open up the Windows Notepad (Start - Programs - Accessories - Notepad) and type "taskkill /F /IM outlook.exe".
Save this file in "Local Disk (C:)" as "taskkill_outlook.bat".
The file you just created is a batch file which can be run from the Windows Task Scheduler. Create a new scheduled task, browse to this batch file, and select it as the program to run.
The batch file you created will force Outlook (or the program you specify) to shut down. Before using taskkill, be sure to run "taskkill /?" from the command window to understand other options you can specify, and for examples on how to use the program.
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