A Task Scheduler

[Coolio10]

Is there a free task scheduler that can run a application/vbscript every few seconds. The windows task manager has a 60 second minimum.

[majoMo]

My suggestion: a batch file (.bat or .cmd), in windows task manager...

-{ Quote: "::5=5 sec.
@echo off
:START
ping 127.0.0.1 -n 5 > nul
start "" calc.exe
GOTO START" }-

;D

[Coolio10]

-{ Quote: "My suggestion: a batch file (.bat or .cmd), in windows task manager...



;D" }-
Thanks, worked perfectly.

[Franklin]

-{ Quote: "My suggestion: a batch file (.bat or .cmd), in windows task manager...
;D" }-
Came in handy here as well, thanks majoMo. 8)

[pajenn]

For situation like this I would use and recommend others learn to use Autohotkey (http://www.autohotkey.com/).

It's an easy program or scripting language intended to create hotkeys for launching programs, automating key stroke and mouse click sequences and such, but it can also do a lot more if you learn to use it.

It's free and you can initially use the included 'macro recorder' to create hotkeys, but to really benefit from it you need to put in a bit of time and effort to learn it. If you do, it'll become one of those programs you can't image living without.

[Franklin]

I was using WinHotKey here but some of these new Ransom/Winlock/Screenlockers lock everything up where hotkeys just won't work whereas the batchfile, which has to be running before executing the malware, works a treat.

[pajenn]

AutoHotkey scripts don't require actual hotkeys to launch. For example, here's an example from the AutoHotkey help file of a script that runs in the background and closes annoying windows (if present) every 250 milliseconds:

-{ Quote: "; Example #1: Close unwanted windows whenever they appear:
#Persistent
SetTimer, CloseMailWarnings, 250
return

CloseMailWarnings:
WinClose, Microsoft Outlook, A timeout occured while communicating
WinClose, Microsoft Outlook, A connection to the server could not be established
return" }-

You could paste that into notepad and save it as an .ahk file. Then double click it to launch it, let Task Manager launch it, or add (a link to) it to Startup folder to load it automatically with Windows. Replacing the "WinClose,..." lines with "Run, calc.exe" would make it run the Calculator app repeatedly instead of closing windows. (Normally you may need to specify the full path to the exe or vbscript file whereas with calc.exe the path is available in the registry).