Windows 10 defer scheduled tasks

Question

I have observed my Windows 10 system slowing down at the post lunch hours everyday, it runs super fast until then.

On close observation I figured out that there are certain tasks in the Task Scheduler that are scheduled to run at the afternoon time. Mostly maintenance tasks such as the Disk Cleaner.

I tried looking at these tasks and disabling them one-by-one, however, that's a pretty tedious task.

I'm looking for some option or tool using which I can get a list of tasks currently scheduled in a given time span (my working hours). Alternatively, a tool that warns me about a scheduled task about to start in, say 10-15 mins, would also be useful. This can help me identify the unimportant ones that could be rescheduled to end of the day or weekend, so that my working hours remain productive.

Can someone please suggest a utility / tool which is helpful in dealing with it these scheduled tasks?

Answer 1

This PowerShell Function could help you achieve your goal:

function Get-ScheduledTaskRunTimes {

    $Now = Get-Date
    Get-ScheduledTask | ForEach-Object {
        $Info = Get-ScheduledTaskInfo $_
        $NextRunMins = if (![string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace($Info.NextRunTime)) {
            $NextRun = [datetime]$Info.NextRunTime
            "{0:N2}" -f (New-TimeSpan $Now $NextRun | Select-Object -ExpandProperty TotalMinutes)
        }
        [PSCustomObject]@{
            TaskName = $_.TaskName
            State = $_.State
            LastRunTime = $Info.LastRunTime
            NextRunTime = $Info.NextRunTime
            RunsAgainInMins = $NextRunMins
            Description = $_.Description
        }
    } 
}

You can then use it and sort and filter the output with Sort-Object and Where-Object

Get-ScheduledTaskRunTimes | Where-Object { $_.State -ne 'Disabled' } | 
    Sort-Object NextRunTime -Desc | ft -AutoSize

You'll get an output like this:

TaskName                                            State LastRunTime         NextRunTime         RunsAgainInMins Description
--------                                            ----- -----------         -----------         --------------- -----------
Data Integrity Scan                                 Ready 29.11.1999 23:00:00 10.05.2020 02:03:03 5'091.36        Überprüft fehlertolerante Volumes auf latente Beschädigungen.
RunUpdateNotificationMgr                            Ready 06.05.2020 04:57:57 07.05.2020 16:16:16 1'624.58
Adobe Acrobat Update Task                           Ready 06.05.2020 13:00:00 07.05.2020 13:00:00 1'428.31        This task keeps your Adobe Reader and Acrobat applications up to date with the latest enhancements ...
RefreshCache                                        Ready 29.02.2020 08:35:35 07.05.2020 10:27:27 1'275.76        Aufgabe zum regelmäßigen Aktualisieren der Daten für OneSettings-Clients.
ScanForUpdates                                      Ready 06.05.2020 08:06:06 07.05.2020 06:05:05 1'013.39
Office ClickToRun Service Monitor                   Ready 06.05.2020 09:27:27 07.05.2020 04:44:44 933.04          This task monitors the state of your Microsoft Office ClickToRunSvc and sends crash and error logs ...
Device                                              Ready 06.05.2020 03:45:45 07.05.2020 04:42:42 931.01
Office Automatic Updates 2.0                        Ready 06.05.2020 10:01:01 07.05.2020 03:57:57 886.26          This task ensures that your Microsoft Office installation can check for updates.
Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser                   Ready 06.05.2020 04:56:56 07.05.2020 03:38:38 866.94          Sammelt Programmtelemetrieinformationen, wenn Sie sich für die Teilnahme am Programm zur Verbesseru...
Firefox Default Browser Agent 308046B0AF4A39CB      Ready 06.05.2020 02:31:31 07.05.2020 02:31:31 799.83
AdobeGCInvoker-1.0                                  Ready 06.05.2020 00:17:17 07.05.2020 00:17:17 665.59
Office Subscription Maintenance                     Ready 05.05.2020 18:45:45 06.05.2020 18:45:45 334.06          Task used to ensure that the Microsoft Office Subscription licensing is current.
Consolidator                                        Ready 06.05.2020 12:00:00 06.05.2020 18:00:00 288.31          Wenn der Benutzer der Teilnahme am Windows-Programm zur Verbesserung der Benutzerfreundlichkeit zug...
Office Feature Updates                              Ready 06.05.2020 08:21:21 06.05.2020 17:06:06 234.41          This task ensures that your Microsoft Office installation can check for feature updates.
QueueReporting                                      Ready 01.05.2020 09:49:49 06.05.2020 13:49:49 38.13           Windows-Fehlerberichterstattungsaufgabe zur Verarbeitung von Berichten in der Warteschlange.
FamilySafetyRefreshTask                             Ready 29.11.1999 23:00:00                                     Synchronisiert die aktuellen Einstellungen mit dem Dienst für Microsoft Family-Features.
CreateObjectTask                                    Ready 01.05.2020 12:29:29                                     Bietet Unterstützung für Shell-Komponenten, mit denen auf Systemdaten zugegriffen wird
NetworkStateChangeTask                              Ready 18.04.2020 19:13:13
FamilySafetyMonitor                                 Ready 29.11.1999 23:00:00                                     Initialisiert die Family Safety-Überwachung und Durchsetzung.
SpaceManagerTask                                    Ready 29.11.1999 23:00:00                                     $(@%SystemRoot%\system32\spaceman.exe,-3)
HeadsetButtonPress                                  Ready 29.11.1999 23:00:00
Storage Tiers Management Initialization             Ready 29.11.1999 23:00:00                                     Initialisiert den Storage Tiers Management-Dienst, wenn der erste mehrstufige Speicherplatz auf dem...
SpaceAgentTask                                      Ready 29.11.1999 23:00:00                                     Einstellungen für Speicherplätze
IndexerAutomaticMaintenance                         Ready 05.05.2020 17:41:41                                     Hält den Suchindex auf dem neuesten Stand

you can then try to disable the tasks you don't want like this for example:

Get-ScheduledTask "Office Automatic Updates 2.0", "Data Integrity Scan" | Disable-ScheduledTask