Windows 7 automated background maintenance?

Does Windows 7 have anything similar built in such as OSX where when the computer is idle or whatever it will automatically perform things such as file cleanup or defragmentation? This is something that always bothered me about Windows is the fact that YOU have to remember to perform all of these tasks unless you set a task scheduler. This isn't the way it should be, the OS should take care of itself while you do what needs to be done. But anyway, so does Windows 7 have anything similar built in that we currently know of?

 

Yes it does, even Vista has it.

 

...the only schedule options I see are daily/weekly/monthly. No Idle option...

 

If the schedule is missed, then the tasks are carried out when idle. This is why it's better to do them manually as laptops are seldom kept idle.

 

XP on my old acer did that...

 

Ahh, ok. Thanks.

 

I don't think XP has "scheduled disk defragmanter". You can add it to the task scheduler manually.

 

Hmmm it sounds like really on Vista you have to set it or initiate it yourself for the most part........I was hoping that Windows 7 just had it built in to do it in the background whenever it felt the need like OSX without any additional setup.

 

A fresh install of Vista will automatically defragment your system on a schedule, whether you set it or not.

 

In vista, if you right click on say C:, the click tools, defragment now, it will bring up a box, which then tells you when the automatic defragmentation is scheduled for. No manual setting of this is required, it is automatically set when you install Vista. I think the default is 01.00 every Wednesday.

 

Hmmm alright I guess I never noticed this, whenever I went to manually run a defrag the program always informed me that the drive was pretty heavily fragmented so I assumed Windows must not be doing it for me.

 

It does, but if your notebook is turned OFF during that set time, the defragmentation doesn't start or never completes fully unless if your notebook is kept idle for a certain period of time.

 

Vista has a scheduled defrag set to start at 1:00 AM on wednesdays IIRC.
XP does not have such a feature, but if you are willing to spend some money, you can install Diskeeper 2009 which is a install-once-forget-forever type defragger that does the defragging automatically in the background when required. No need for manual defrags or schedules.

Windows updates can be set to be fully automatic (not recommended lol).
Most applications can be set to atleast check for updates automatically.

Virus scannners are always-on and work silently in the background. Deep scans can be scheduled for some weekend early AM when the system is not in use.

Disk cleanup...well, TBH, I would not want that to be automatic...I don't want a piece of silicon deciding what files to delete...let me do the choosing.

Windows is pretty much maintenance-free these days isn't it? Unless you messing around with it for no good reason...