Does Schedule by Zaweba need administrator rights?
No. Schedule by Zaweba runs as the current user from the notification area, so it needs no administrator rights to install jobs, run them or keep a history.
No. Schedule by Zaweba runs as the current user from the Windows notification area, so it needs no administrator rights. You can create jobs, run them, see their history and change settings from an ordinary account, the same one you use every day.
That is a design choice, and it shapes how the app behaves in a few ways that are worth understanding.
Why it runs as you
Many scheduling tools reach deep into Windows, creating system tasks or services that need an administrator to set up. That is powerful, but it also means more prompts, more things that can only be changed by someone with the right password, and jobs that run as an account you cannot easily see.
Schedule keeps things simpler. It is a program running in your session, sitting in the tray. Jobs run as you, with your files, your mapped drives, your settings and your permissions. A script that works when you double-click it is running in the same world when Schedule starts it.
It also never creates Task Scheduler tasks. Even waking the PC for a job is done with a single Windows waitable timer that Schedule keeps pointed 30 seconds before the next wake job, rather than a system task.
What it means day to day
A second launch brings the existing window forward rather than starting another copy. Closing the window keeps Schedule running in the notification area, and File > Exit stops it. At first run you are offered Start with Windows, so it is there each time you sign in.
The important consequence is that jobs run while you are signed in to Windows. If you sign out, Schedule is not running, and jobs due in that time do not run then. Catch-up can run a missed job once as soon as Schedule is running again, otherwise the missed runs are noted in the history, so nothing is lost without a record.
What jobs can and cannot do
A job can do whatever you can do. It can run programs and scripts, call web addresses, open files and folders, and run Macro by Zaweba macros or Backup by Zaweba folder pairs. It can read and write anywhere your account can.
What it cannot do is something your account cannot. If a program needs to be run as administrator, starting it from Schedule does not change that. For most everyday automation, such as reports, tidying folders, backups of your own files and scripts that fetch or process data, that is no limitation at all.
Reading Windows tasks without admin
Schedule has a Windows tasks tab that lists Task Scheduler's tasks read-only, with their triggers and actions described in plain English. Simple tasks with one program and common triggers can be copied into Schedule as new jobs, carrying over arguments, working folder, mains-only, catch-up and wake settings. The Windows task itself is never changed, which is part of why no special rights are needed.
Settings that stay yours
Because it runs as you, everything is kept for your user. The email password for failure alerts, if you set one up, is encrypted for your Windows user. Your jobs, your history and your settings belong to your account.
Nobody needs to ask an administrator before setting up a job, and nothing you do in Schedule changes the PC for anyone else.
Is that the right choice for you
For a personal PC or a small office machine where someone is signed in during the working day, running as the user is usually exactly right: no prompts, no hidden accounts, and jobs that behave like you do.
If you need jobs to run with nobody signed in at all, that is a different kind of job, and it is worth knowing Schedule is built for the signed-in case. For everything else, Schedule by Zaweba gets on with it without asking for the administrator password.
