Hidden Task Revealer

RaveBlack said:

I don't have OneDrive installed, so OneDriveSync was not a factor for me. I wouldn't rule it out for anyone else, though.

I'm sorry, I mistyped. The service concerned is OneSyncSvc [and it has nothing to do with OneDrive, which I removed straight after OS installation as well]



If you can confirm that
OneSyncSvc and
its spawn OneSyncSvc_NNNNN [e.g. OneSyncSvc_dc6c4]
are shown in Task mgr, Services tab yet you do not have the problem symptoms
then it will confirm that, even though OneSyncSvc might be involved in generating the problem, it is not actually the cause.

Denis

Try3 said:

Andy,

It's taken me an hour or more to finish writing this post. My 'it is not a hidden task' comment was a response to another user not to you.
- Task scheduler does not, by default, show hidden tasks [tasks that have a deliberate hidden property] but our problem items are not of that nature.
- If the problem items were merely records of a hidden task it would have taken approximately a miniute to resolve the issue.
- In other words, whilst we might think of the instigating thing being hidden, it is not a "hidden task" as such.

Denis

Hi Denis,

Been looking a bit more into this hidden task thing you mentioned. I figured out your referring to an option on the Task Scheduler window as shown in the screenshot below.



I was originally unclear to what this option does but on toggling it again I noticed the Task Status window updates. Furthermore the count in the summary changes. I also noticed that some items are added. On looking further on one of the hidden items I noticed there is a hidden checkbox for tasks specified in the Task Scheduler as the following screenshot shows (at the bottom)



Other than hiding these tasks from the Task Status and maybe Active Tasks sections I don't know if there is any other functionality assigned to this attribute.

Notably toggling the "Show Hidden Tasks" view option doesn't hide the {xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx} tasks so your right in saying this isn't a hidden task in this context.

However it is a hidden task in two aspects:

1) Other than the Task Status section and the Event Viewer log there is no trace of it
2) The naming hides its true functionality.

So obviously the help documentation will need to spell this out so thanks for the heads up on this.

Cheers
Andy Bruin

- - - Updated - - -

Callender said:

FYI:

Attachment 280671

Services and Scheduled Tasks. See attached.


Attachment 280673

Windows Updates: See here for my method:

Giving up on WIN10 Home

If space is an issue see:

Enable or Disable Reserved Storage in Windows 10

Enable or Disable Reserved Storage in Windows 10

Delete contents of C:\Windows\servicing\LCU - not the folder, just the contents.

How to clean files in C:\Windows\servicing\LCU

Thanks Callender,

Yep, OneSyncSvc is definitely not in your services that's why the task isn't displayed.

Note to anybody else reading this whilst deleting or just simply disabling OneSyncSrv may stop this probably harmless task (it's a Microsoft task) from occurring it doesn't stop other processes generating similar tasks. Also deleting or disabling this may after the following apps which depend on ActiveSync to sync their data.

1) Windows Phone
2) Exchange Mail Servers if using Exchange ActiveSync
3) Outlook Live
4) Windows Instagram app
5) Other apps that use ActiveSync to sync (None others so far confirmed other than above)

As to the rest of the links they will save me heaps of time in the fight for space on my Windows drive. It's so painful that even if you specify another drive for an install a lot of Microsoft products insist on adding heaps to the Windows C:\drive. This isn't a good idea when the modern idiom is a small SSD for the operating system.

So great thanks for the info and links.

Cheers
Andy Bruin

I wonder if anyone can state that it does or does not show up in TaskSchedulerView Portable?

https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/task_scheduler_view.html

Andy,

Hidden task
OK, I now understand that you had not previously known that there was a Task property called 'Hidden'.
Perhaps we need to refer to the things we are chasing by another specific term to avoid misunderstandings. I suggest ghost tasks.

Disabling services to suppress ghost tasks
The other disadvantage to this method of control is that Version / Cumulative updates often reset any such disabling. So disabling the service woulld have to be accompanied by regular checking of its status.

Managing Windows update
Disabling this service is, like disabling services for any reason, liable to be countered by a Version / Cumulative update. Many people have reported this in the TenForumsTutorial on the subject.
I manage WU without use of Sledgehammer.
What I amnd many others do is simpler, much simpler - metered connections, USOClient file permissions revoked. It's all been working effectively this way for five or six years.
My scheme for managing WU [my post #73] - TenForums

Those comments about saving storage space
I believe your computer has 32GB storage.
- The LCU folder manages itself quite well. It is never more than a GB or two [as you'll see in that linked thread about it]. To get any benefit you'd need to delete the folder just before updating and accept its re-creation afterwards.
- Free up space to install the latest Windows 10 feature update - Windows Help suggests using an external drive for updates but I have a vague notion that I have seen others state quite recently that this no longer works / works well.
You haven't been doing all your excellent diagnostic work on ghost tasks on such a small screen, have you?

All the best,
Denis

Callender said:

I wonder if anyone can state that it does or does not show up in TaskSchedulerView Portable?

https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/task_scheduler_view.html

Callender,

No, these ghost tasks do not show up in NirSoft's tool. Nor in C:\Windows\Tasks nor C:\Windows\System32\Tasks [which require setting up to show Hidden & System files].

Denis

Andy,

I luv your suggestion of "Ghost Tasks". Certainly eliminates the embarrassing confusion so I definitely recommend we all take that on board. However we are stuck with the original thread heading "Hidden Task Revealer". Does anybody know if there is a moderator/administrator here that could change it to "Ghost Task Revealer". It's probably asking too much but it would be nice.

Go back to your inital post in this thread, click on the edit post link under the bottom-right of the post and change the title yourself.
The www address of the thread will stay the same but the title will change and that, I think, would be well worthwhile.
No, doing that only changes a minor factor but not the page / thread header
- I just did the change on my Unknown tasks running - e9e87558-3d46-49e9-bde6-f8b84dace1c6 - TenForums and you can see what a limited difference it makes

LCU = Last Cumulative Update and is thought to be what Windows would use if you told it to roll back.
- Up to 3 CUs get stored in LCU, and
- Disk Cleanup reduces that to 1 CU [if you tell Disk Cleanup to remove update files], and
- you can delete it manually if you want to.

Just to reduce the scope for misunderstandings, I do not disable USOClient service[s], I job the file access permissions so Windows cannot use it.

permissions removed from USOClient [post #4 by ,TairikuOkami and several other TenForums threads]

Apart from setting network connections as metered, that's all I do and it works.

Denis