According to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a method for configuring an operating system is provided. The method includes the step of creating a task schedule on a host, the schedule comprising tasks, task start times, and task deadlines. The task schedule is used to configure a time deadline based operating system on a target computer according to the task schedule. The target operating system is run, while simultaneously capturing event data. The event data is converted into a corresponding graphical representation indicative of the occurrence of significant events on the target, the significant events corresponding to the task start times and the deadlines. The method includes the further step of changing the task start times and task deadlines in response to user interaction with reference to the graphical representation, the changes corresponding to specific significant events; and using the changes to adjust and recreate the task schedule.