Windows 10: Automatic Maintenance - can I keep working?

Hi All,I like to use the Automatic Maintenance feature once in a while. I start it manually .. it's not set to start by itself.My question, though, is:If I do any work on the computer, will Automatic Maintenance stop or be interrupted?In other words ... do I have to be completely inactive / the computer completely idle / no apps open ... to allow Automatic maintenance to continue / do its job?Articles mention: "... when idle" ... what is exactly "idle'? zero activity / all apps closed? can I read in word? can I move the cursor? or type?I use a command in Power Shell displaying the maintenance

:)

 

Questions about Automatic Maintenance

I am not sure if there is a better name for Automatic Maintenance, I am referring to Control Panel > System and Security > Security and Maintenance > Maintenance > Automatic Maintenance.

How I know defragmentation is part of Automatic Maintenance:

• Open Defragmenter.
• Go to Control Panel > System and Security > Security and Maintenance > Maintenance > Automatic Maintenance.
• Start Maintenance.
• Go back to defragmenter, you will see it starts running.

Since Automatic Maintenance will try to run during idle time and defragmentation is part of it, my HDD is being (partially) defragmented everyday. Is it harmful to my HDD?

 

Automatic Maintenance

Hi Judith,

Automatic maintenance will work while your computer is on. It would not perform it if, your computer is off or have been shut down. Automatic Maintenance automatically stops currently running maintenance functions, if the user starts interacting with
the computer. Maintenance activity will resume once the computer system returns to idle status.

For additional information regarding Automatic Maintenance here is a helpful link:

Automatic Maintenance.

Feel free to send more inquiries.

Regards.

 

Questions about Automatic Maintenance

I know when my computer is idle, Automatic Maintenance will start to run automatically and when I start to use my computer actively again it will stop. But since my usual idle time is far too short for the whole process to run completely, defragmentation
of my HDD (which is one of the first few steps in Automatic Maintenance) will never complete before I start using my computer, so I sometimes start maintenance manually through Control Panel. How often should I run it manually for best performance? Will overdoing
defragmentation harms my HDD?

Also, I am curious about what are the steps carried out in Automatic Maintenance, all I know is defragmentation is definitely part of it.