Like any semi-complicated piece of machinery, your computer needs a bit of maintenance every now and then to keep it running smoothly.

Now Windows... well, we all know how temperamental that mysterious piece of software can be. So keeping it ticking over is an important task.

But nobody wants to baby-sit their computer, so if you could have those maintenance jobs run at preset times, that would be great, wouldn't it?

In an indescribable flash of genius, Microsoft built a way into Windows to do just that. It's called "Scheduled Tasks".

With it you can schedule maintenance tasks — such as the Disk Defragmenter, emptying the Recycle Bin, and backing up your computer — to run at certain regular times.

Here's how in Windows XP:

  1. Click "Start", "All Programs", "Accessories", "System Tools" and then on "Scheduled Tasks".
  2. Double-click on "Add Scheduled Task".
  3. You will now be taken through a wizard to add a schedule. Follow the instructions carefully.

You can schedule more than one task by simply following the instructions above for every task.