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Spring Cleaning
Does your computer run slower than it used to? Give it a thorough spring cleaning! Once a year, you should check your computer health and perform these simple tasks:
1. Back up your data: Backups are useful primarily for two purposes: to restore a computer to an operational state following a disaster and to restore small numbers of files after they have been accidentally deleted or corrupted. You never know when your computer might crash or become infected with a virus. Always back up your data before you run system tools.
- With Windows XP: Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Backup.
2. Clear out forgotten programs: To improve your computer’s performance, it is important to remove any unnecessary programs so that they do not consume resources and hurt performance.
- Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Add or Remove Programs.
- Scroll through the list and look at each program. If it is something you do not use, remove it. However, do not remove anything labeled as an Update or Hotfix as these programs relate to the security of your computer.
3. Free up wasted space: In addition to removing unused programs to clear disk space, using the Windows Disk Cleanup tool can further assist you in freeing up disk space.
- Open My Computer, right click Local Disk, and then click Properties
- On the General tab, click the Disk Cleanup button. Disk cleanup will spend a few minutes examining your disk.
- The Disk Cleanup dialogue box opens and it will tell you how much space you can free up.
- Select the desired boxes in the Files to Delete list, and then click OK. Disk clean up will spend several minutes clearing space.
4. Clear your internet browser cache: Your Internet browser automatically stores temporary files and cookies whenever you surf the Internet. Clearing out your browser’s cache can save hard disk space and make your computer run more efficiently.
- Click the Tools menu, then click Internet Options.
- Select the General tab, then click Delete Files… in the Temporary Internet files section.
- In the Delete Files dialog box that appears, select Delete all offline content, then click OK.
Sources:
http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/article/cleanPC.htm
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/expert/northrup_restoreperf.mspx |
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