Scheduled Task Setup

[Guest]

Two Questions:

1) Does the setting "start at system startup" mean that the task runs prior
to anyone logging on? For example, if power shuts down my computer in the
middle of the night, but I have set PC anywhere to start at system startup,
will I be able to access my computer when the power turns back on?

2) Can you suggest a way to check to see if a task is running before
running it? One of my programs must be on at 11:00 PM every night. I may
not remember to turn it off or on, and if it is running, I get error messages
galore!

Thanks!

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

See below.

Two Questions:

1) Does the setting "start at system startup" mean that the task runs prior
to anyone logging on? For example, if power shuts down my computer in the
middle of the night, but I have set PC anywhere to start at system startup,
will I be able to access my computer when the power turns back on?

Yes and no. Scheduled tasks can run before anyone logs on. However,
they run in the background and are therefore invisible to you. pcAnywhere
is an interactive process that must run in the foreground. To launch it
automatically, set your PC to AutoLogon, then place the pcAnywere
shortcut into the startup folder of your profile. By the way, who will
enter the pcAnywhere password during an automatic launch?

2) Can you suggest a way to check to see if a task is running before
running it? One of my programs must be on at 11:00 PM every night. I may
not remember to turn it off or on, and if it is running, I get error messages
galore!

Launch the task via a batch file like so:

@echo off
c:\tools\pslist | find /i "pcAnywhere" > nul && goto :eof
start /b "c:\Program Files\Norton\pcAnywhere.exe"

You can get a free copy of pslist.exe from www.sysinternals.com.