First published on TechNet on Jul 14, 2013
Hello, Jeff “The Dude” Stokes here for an installment on a very important topic. Why should I not disable the task scheduler in Windows?
Long, long ago in the annals of IT history, the Task Scheduler was a poorly understood component of Windows. “What does it do?” We’d wonder…
Fast forward to today and now, the Task Scheduler is still a poorly understood component of Windows. “What does it do and why can’t I disable it to be secure?” We ask…
We have heard about some changes in Vista and Windows 7 regarding the task scheduler, but really, why not disable the dang thing to be more secure or increase system performance?
Because disabling the task scheduler does not make your system more secure, nor does it increase system performance . In fact, it makes your system less secure in Windows 8, and in Windows 7 and 8 makes performance worse , especially over time.
In Windows 7 the Task Scheduler is responsible for background health and cleaning processes such as optimizing prefetch and readyboot for instance. It also handles light defragmentation runs on the system.
In Windows 8, it’s even more important. It optimizes the start menu…
What else? File History is task scheduler based.
Bluetooth device cleanup (when you unpair a device)
Cleaning up Application Temporary Files as well
How about making sure the file system is healthy? Yeah that’s a task, too.
Run RAID sets on your machine? You’ll want task scheduler.
How about Windows Updates?
So let’s leave the Task Scheduler Service alone in our quest for security hardening and go pick on more interesting things like Anti-Virus and Data Loss Prevention kits.
So remember, Relax , don’t do it. Don’t disable the task scheduler!
For more information on the Task Scheduler see below:
Task Scheduler Changes in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 – Part One
http://blogs.technet.com/b/askperf/archive/2008/06/24/task-scheduler-changes-in-windows-vista-and-w...
Task Scheduler Changes in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 – Part Two
http://blogs.technet.com/b/askperf/archive/2008/10/10/task-scheduler-changes-in-windows-vista-and-w...
Task Scheduler Changes in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 – Part Three
http://blogs.technet.com/b/askperf/archive/2009/03/17/task-scheduler-changes-in-windows-vista-and-w...
Two Minute Drill - Quickly test Task Scheduler
http://blogs.technet.com/b/askperf/archive/2011/06/10/two-minute-drill-quickly-test-task-scheduler....
What’s New in Task Scheduler for Windows 8 & Server 2012
http://blogs.technet.com/b/askperf/archive/2013/07/05/what-s-new-in-task-scheduler-for-windows-8-am...
Update 11/3/2013 -Mark Morowczynski
How To Configure Clustered Tasks with Windows Server 2012
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/clustering/archive/2012/05/31/10312527.aspx
Jeff “The Dude” Stokes