Simple Windows Automation

Can I select an item on the Start menu and launch not one program, but two or three or four? Better yet, can I double-click one icon and have one program scan my hard drive, another defragment the drive when the scan is done, and a third start a backup after the defrag?

You can accomplish all of this and more with DOS batch files--even in DOS-free Windows XP. As DOS fades from memory, however, fewer and fewer people are comfortable writing batch files.

>>TIP If you're batch-averse, I recommend Outer Technologies' free Batchrun program, which makes automating multiprogram tasks easy. This nifty utility lets you create batches by dragging, dropping, and clicking. You can add commands for such common file manipulations as copying and deleting, and you can instruct the program to wait a preset number of milliseconds (I know, whole seconds would have made more sense) or until the last program is finished (see FIGURE 1).

• See more like this:
• Answer Line,
• batchrun,
• randomizer,
• clip on boots,
• swap file,
• my documents