Patent ID: 7814490

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving a selection of at least two computer system actions to be performed opportunistically as time slot opportunities for performing opportunistic computer system activities arise; saving the at least two computer system actions to a list stored in a memory of the computer system; receiving a selection of a priority to be applied to each of the at least two computer system actions, wherein the priorities assigned to each of the at least two computer system actions determine an order in which the computer system actions are performed; receiving a command initiated by a user with a computer system input device to begin opportunistic computer system activities, where the command specifies a time period available for performing opportunistic computer system activities; selecting from the list at least one of the at least two computer system actions to be performed during the time period available for opportunistic computer system activities; and initiating the at least one computer system action; where the selection of at least two computer system actions is received when at least one application program capable of performing the at least two computer system actions is loaded into a memory of the computer system; where selecting from the list which of the at least two computer system actions to be performed is performed according to at least one pre-determined criterion concerned with selecting a highest-priority computer system action to be performed first whenever opportunistic computer system activities are initiated, and where selecting the highest-priority computer system action to be performed first is done only if the time period specified as being available for performing opportunistic computer system activities is adequate to perform the highest-priority computer system action to completion based on an estimate of the amount of time needed to perform the highest-priority computer system action to completion and, if not, the method further comprises selecting a next highest-priority computer system action to be performed only if the time period specified as being available for performing opportunistic computer system activities is adequate to perform the next highest-priority computer system action to completion based on an estimate of the amount of time needed to perform the next highest-priority computer system action to completion, where at least one of the computer system actions comprises at least one computer system maintenance task.