Carrying out a correct maintenance of the devices that we use every day is not only recommended but it is necessary. Check that everything is up to date, that we do not have viruses, that there is no pending task. Generally improve performance. That is why Windows has automatic maintenance in Windows that executes a series of functions daily to check the status of your computer.
Although we try to take maximum care that our computer is in good condition, small problems may appear derived from a lack of internal care, such as not ensuring that everything is up to date or not running an antivirus frequently to check that there is no malware. In order to improve performance even if you don’t worry about it, there is the automatic maintenance function in Windows. Even so, we may want it to not work because it causes us annoyance or it starts when we are using it, for example, it slows down the computer … In that case, we can configure it from the control panel and we will teach you, step by step, to deactivate it if you consider that it does not you need.
What is automatic maintenance in Windows?
Not everyone knows that the operating system has this feature, but it is a function that a scanner performs on the applications or programs that we have downloaded from the Windows Store. Automatic maintenance has a series of tasks scheduled by default that do a disk cleanup, system diagnostics. From the Control Panel of your computer you can check if this automatic maintenance is activated or not, when was the date of the last execution or you can modify it or change its configuration.
Windows automatic maintenance runs automatically, as its name suggests, and on a daily basis. It is done while the computer is not in use and includes update, diagnostic or security detection tasks. If the computer is being used, automatic maintenance will generally be delayed.
It is an interesting option but it can cause us some inconvenience because the time at which it is to be performed may not suit us or it may launch some kind of update or progress in the background that makes our computer slow down during that time. Or that it takes longer to turn on when we are going to need it to work in the morning, for example, if it is scheduled at that time.
In all these cases if you do not want the automatic maintenance in Windows to run or occur, you can cancel or change it. You can choose what time the usual tasks are carried out and thus you can make sure that nothing is going to spoil you during work hours or while you are playing. You can choose, for example, to do it in the middle of the morning. But you can also deactivate it if you consider it unnecessary or that you can perform these tasks yourself manually.
Check if it’s activated
The first thing we need to check is whether the automatic maintenance of Windows 10 is activated or not, when was the date of the last execution and at what time. You can see all this from the Control Panel of your computer.
- Go to Start on your computer bar
- Find Control Panel
- Choose the option System and security
- Once here, choose Security and maintenance at the top
- Open the Maintenance section to see the options
Here you will see the date and time of the last automatic maintenance and you can click “start maintenance” if you want it to start doing it manually.
Defer or configure maintenance
Once we have seen the previous steps, we can configure maintenance to choose the time we want it to run. To do this, the steps are:
- Open Control Panel by searching for it on the start bar
- Choose the System and security section
- Open Security and Maintenance, as in the previous case
- Here, drop down Maintenance to see the options
- Tap on “Change maintenance settings”
Here you will see a drop-down with all the hours of the day and you will be able to choose what time you want the automatic maintenance to be carried out daily. Simply go to “Run daily maintenance tasks at …” and choose the time from the drop-down menu. Set a time that you know you won’t mind if it happens.
Cancel
You cannot cancel Windows automatic maintenance from your computer because the operating system does not allow this option by default. But we can do it with a “trick” that will help us deactivate it , whatever the reason why you don’t want me to do this type of task … In that case, the steps may be somewhat more complex than the previous ones but they will not long time.
Look under Start in the “Registry Editor” bar and open it on your computer. Once here, you will have to open the different folders or copy the path at the top. The route we have to get to is:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NT CurrentVersionScheduleMaintenance
Once here, tap on the file that will appear on the screen and a pop-up window will appear indicating “Edit chain” and value noble, along with a box that you can fill in. In “Value data” write a 1 and click OK. This will have canceled the automatic maintenance of Windows 10.
It is advisable?
It will depend on what you consider or use the computer or the system. In general, using an antivirus will protect us from possible applications or programs and fraudulent downloads, and Windows Defender itself can use it by running in real time without the need to scan the disk. But it is an added protection that if you did not even know it was there it is because it has not bothered you so far. If you see that it does pose a problem for normal performance or is slower than usual , you can try the above process to see if it is the solution or if it improves it.
What maintenance tasks are recommended?
There are a series of recommended tasks that you should carry out in Windows so that the computer is safe and that there are no long-term problems.
Keep updates up to date
You can go to Windows Update from your computer’s settings to keep the operating system updates up to date, along with the updates to the programs or applications that you have installed on it. From Update and security> Windows Update you can give “Check for updates” periodically and carry out the process so that everything is in order.
Delete what you don’t use
We accumulate programs that we have only used once, files that are of no use to us. It is convenient that you do a periodic review and eliminate everything that you are not using since having the memory completely full and saturated with files that we do not need makes the performance of the computer go worse than if it is clean and simply with what we do need every day.
Check for malware
Use an antivirus or malware detector to detect any possible problems or damaged files. You can find free antivirus to install on Windows on a regular basis without having to remember them. They will do a scan every day or every few days to make sure you don’t have viruses or malware.