How can I have Windows 10 silently check a web site every few minutes?

Solution 1:

curl

curl is available on Windows (though you may have to scroll a bit =P). I would personally recommend the official Windows builds or perhaps the builds by Dirk Paehl. The curl version number in blue is the link to the appropriate file/download page.

Regarding the command itself (minus cron), you can substitute the Windows NUL device for /dev/null :

curl --silent "https://foo.blah" > nul 2>&1

Note: Regarding execution (below), this line can be placed in a simple batch file or as part of a script.

Task Scheduler

I see that scheduled tasks are available but they don't seem to have the frequency I need.

It is possible to use Windows Task Scheduler to repeat tasks every X minutes.

In short, you can:

  • Schedule a new task and set it to be run Daily (every 24hrs starting at e.g. 12:00 PM and set to Recur every 1 days) under the task Properties → Triggers tab.

  • Under the Advanced section, check the Repeat task every option and set the desired repetitions. The smallest dropdown unit is 5 minutes but you can simply edit it to be 1 minute by typing in the field.

  • Under the Settings tab (still under Properties), make sure to check Run task as soon as possible after a scheduled start is missed.

The one drawback to this method is that if a scheduled start time is missed, there is a 10 minute delay before "Run task as soon as possible" (above) kicks in.

cron

Another option is to try a cron replacement such as CRONw. Its older and I haven't personally tried it unfortunately, but it might be worth checking out. However, I would recommend Strawberry Perl rather than ActiveState Perl if you do.

As a final personal recommendation, Intelliadmin cron may also suit your needs. It nicely bridges the gap between something like Task Scheduler and cron. You can download a copy from the Intelliadmin downloads page from the link marked as "Windows Cron Service 2.0" (which downloads Intelliadmin cron as iadmincron.exe). This executable installs the Intelliadmin cron service and a management interface, which are both very light and utilitarian.