4 ms·

We are 30+ years and Windows Task Scheduler is still broken. Compare that to simple .txt files to schedule anything you need in Linux. Windows took the UI path

by kfk 6y ago

We are 30+ years and Windows Task Scheduler is still broken. Compare that to simple .txt files to schedule anything you need in Linux. Windows took the UI path for users and that's OK, but most of Power users are still much better off with text files and simple utilities (like crontab) that work. This type of ecosystem is completely broken on Windows, I don't think it can be fixed, it is too much of a paradigm shift. On the same token trying to do good UI/User experience is still too hard on Linux. I take no issue with Windows, business users, friends and my parents are probably better off with it, but the "power" stuff? Please don't.

fetbaffe 6y ago
How is Windows Task Scheduler broken?
- amw 6y ago
  Can't bulk-kill processes, for one. Not searchable, for two.
  - Someone1234 6y ago
    You can bulk kill with e.g. Get-ScheduledTask -TaskPath "\UpdateTasks\" | Stop-ScheduledTask That also demonstrates search too, by the way.
  - fetbaffe 6y ago
    Haven't used it in a long time, but looking at it now, the GUI is definitely clunky and those features are missing. Wasn't there another GUI during the Windows XP days?
    - WorldMaker 6y ago
      That MMC snap-in hasn't changed much in the NT era of Windows. You might be recalling 95-ME's even worse task scheduler?
- josteink 6y ago
  > How is Windows Task Scheduler broken? Fundamentally. Try to schedule a simple script to run once an hour, while the user is logged in. No other conditions. Nothing complex. Wait an hour and wait to see one window pop open running your script. Wait one work-day. Work on your machine. Observe 10+ executions of that script, in parallel, on the mark the script was scheduled to run once. Watch this get worse every day, until reboot. And then it slowly starts collapsing on itself again. Not even this simple use-case works. It’s just unbelievably broken.
  - jpalomaki 6y ago
    Did you check "run task as soon as possible after scheduled start is missed"? And what about "If task is already running, then the following rule applies: Do not start a new instance".
    - josteink 6y ago
      Not sure. Why should those be needed? It says run once and it literally launches 10+ within the same 100ms. That’s just broken.
oblio 6y ago
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-create-task-using-task-scheduler-command-prompt https://www.windowscentral.com/how-create-task-using-task-sc... https://devblogs.microsoft.com/scripting/use-powershell-to-create-scheduled-tasks/ https://devblogs.microsoft.com/scripting/use-powershell-to-c...
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
jpalomaki 6y ago
The Task Scheduler can export and import tasks from XML. There's also SchTasks.exe command to manage the tasks from the command line. The UI can be a bit complicated, but on the other hand the Task Scheduler itself provides quite much functionality. You can for example trigger tasks based on events which are generated by Windows or applications (the same events that are visible in Event Viewer).

by kfk 6y ago

fetbaffe 6y ago

How is Windows Task Scheduler broken?

amw 6y ago
Can't bulk-kill processes, for one. Not searchable, for two.
- Someone1234 6y ago
  You can bulk kill with e.g. Get-ScheduledTask -TaskPath "\UpdateTasks\" | Stop-ScheduledTask That also demonstrates search too, by the way.
- fetbaffe 6y ago
  Haven't used it in a long time, but looking at it now, the GUI is definitely clunky and those features are missing. Wasn't there another GUI during the Windows XP days?
  - WorldMaker 6y ago
    That MMC snap-in hasn't changed much in the NT era of Windows. You might be recalling 95-ME's even worse task scheduler?
josteink 6y ago
> How is Windows Task Scheduler broken? Fundamentally. Try to schedule a simple script to run once an hour, while the user is logged in. No other conditions. Nothing complex. Wait an hour and wait to see one window pop open running your script. Wait one work-day. Work on your machine. Observe 10+ executions of that script, in parallel, on the mark the script was scheduled to run once. Watch this get worse every day, until reboot. And then it slowly starts collapsing on itself again. Not even this simple use-case works. It’s just unbelievably broken.
- jpalomaki 6y ago
  Did you check "run task as soon as possible after scheduled start is missed"? And what about "If task is already running, then the following rule applies: Do not start a new instance".
  - josteink 6y ago
    Not sure. Why should those be needed? It says run once and it literally launches 10+ within the same 100ms. That’s just broken.

oblio 6y ago

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-create-task-using-task-scheduler-command-prompt https://www.windowscentral.com/how-create-task-using-task-sc... https://devblogs.microsoft.com/scripting/use-powershell-to-create-scheduled-tasks/ https://devblogs.microsoft.com/scripting/use-powershell-to-c...

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

jpalomaki 6y ago

The Task Scheduler can export and import tasks from XML. There's also SchTasks.exe command to manage the tasks from the command line. The UI can be a bit complicated, but on the other hand the Task Scheduler itself provides quite much functionality. You can for example trigger tasks based on events which are generated by Windows or applications (the same events that are visible in Event Viewer).