This Hidden Windows Morning Startup Feature Makes Your Most Boring Tasks Automatic

Almost every time you start your PC, you probably launch the same applications, visit the same websites, check your messages, check your calendar, and start playing ambient audio. Then you go through the motions of your workday and repeat the exact same routine the next morning. By now it has become second nature to you. But just because you’re already used to that PC morning routine doesn’t make these tasks any less boring, and they’re still chores that take up a good few minutes of your morning.

What if we told you that Windows has a hidden feature that automatically does all of this for you, and all you have to do is log into your computer? This secret tool is called Task Scheduler. This tool allows you to use Windows to open any program installed on your PC as soon as it detects a trigger, such as your connection. You can also configure it to launch applications based on specific schedules or events, such as when the PC becomes idle or your workstation locks. But for your morning routine, it’s usually best to use the connection trigger, so you can start your day right away.

However, more than just launching apps, Task Scheduler can open them on specific screens. For example, you can open Chrome to a set of websites or Spotify to open the playlist of your choice. At first glance, Task Scheduler can be quite overwhelming. But don’t worry, we’ll walk you through step by step how to use it, both for launching basic apps and opening apps on specific screens.

If you just want Task Scheduler to launch an app for you, simply search for Task Scheduler in the Start menu and select the first result. Once the application is open, it is easy to create a new task:

1. In the Actions panel on the right, select Create Task.
2. On the General tab, add a name for your task.
3. (Optional) Enter a description for the task to help you remember what it does.

Next, set the trigger:

1. Go to the Triggers tab and click New.
2. Change Start task to At login.
3. Select Any User to launch the app as the user you log in as, or Specific User to open the app for that user only.
4. Set the timeout task to 30 seconds or one minute. This means your app won’t launch until 30 or 60 seconds after you log in, giving your PC more time to finish loading its own processes first.
5. Press OK.

Finally, choose your application:

1. Go to the Actions tab.
2. Set the action to Start a program.
3. Press the Browse button and find the application’s EXE program. It is usually located in the Program Files or Program Files (x86) folder on your C: drive.
4. Click OK, then press OK to save the task.

If you launch multiple applications, create a new task for each one. Make sure to delay them accordingly, so your PC isn’t overwhelmed by having multiple Windows apps open at the same time. Note that this setup for apps installed through the Microsoft Store or with an MSIX file is a bit more complicated, involving PowerShell and running your app of choice through the Command Prompt rather than directly. There is a rough tutorial on the Microsoft forum to achieve this.

Configuring Task Scheduler to launch apps on certain screens is more involved than basic app launches, but it lets you spend less time clicking every morning to get your apps in the right place. The first way to configure this is to directly add an argument for the application in Task Scheduler. This mainly works to open browsers to specific websites (we tested it on Chrome, Firefox and Edge). Here’s how to configure it:

1. Create a task in Task Scheduler, with the trigger set to On Login.
2. For actions, add the browser of your choice (find it in the C: drive).
3. In the Add Arguments field, enter your set of websites with spaces between them. For example, you might have “gmail.com news.google.com youtube.com/@LofiGirl/videos calendar.google.com”.
4. Click OK.
5. Save the task.

Now, when you log in to your PC, your browser of choice will automatically launch and load these websites. Unfortunately, most other applications don’t provide arguments as simple as browsers. This is where the second method, using the Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), comes in. Apps like Spotify and Slack support URIs, and you can use these URIs as an argument to the explorer.com program. In Task Scheduler, type explorer.com under Program/script and the URI in the Add arguments field. You will usually find the application’s URIs in its developer documentation.

If the application does not have a URI for Windows, check if it supports the third method: application redirects from a browser. This means you have a link to a website that automatically opens the desktop app. For this method, the program/script is your browser of choice and the argument is the application’s redirect link.