It is a good idea to think of your PC as an office. It stores
files, programs, pictures. This can be compared to an actual
office's files, machines and decorations. The operating system
is the boss. With this image in mind, think of an office you've
visited that was slow and inefficient. There were probably many
different reasons for the inefficiency. This is the same with a
computer. There can be many items that slow down your computer.
Perhaps the one most commonly overlooked is disorganization and
clutter.
Disk Cleanup
An office can accumulate a lot of unnecessary files, machines,
and decorations. This is the same with your computer. One of the
best ways to keep this clutter under control is to perform a
cleaning utility periodically. In Windows this cleaning utility
will be called a "disk cleanup." It removes a variety of
unnecessary files depending on the options you have selected.
To perform a disk cleanup on Windows XP you can simply click on
"my computer" under the start menu. Than right click on your "c
drive" or "hard disk" and choose properties. Than click "disk
cleanup" and follow the prompts. When selecting files to clean
up, or delete, Windows will give you information to help you
decide. When looking over the list of file types, you would
simple click on the name of the file type and read the
description placed below in the description area. This will let
you know if the files can be safely deleted. To select the file
group just check the box next to the group name. When finished
selecting press "OK" to finish.
Now, performing a disk cleanup is not very time consuming, just
a couple minutes, and it may save more time in the end by making
your computer run faster. However, a disk cleanup should be run
periodically rather than just once in a great while. One way to
make this run periodically is to make it a scheduled task. This
will allow your computer to run it automatically with intervals
and time of day determined by you. Yet, you can always run it
yourself periodically without creating a scheduled task.
Add or Remove Programs
The information given above can help you get rid of some
unnecessary files, but you may also need to clean out some
unnecessary programs as well. This can be done using the "add or
remove programs" utility in Windows. This is located in the
control panel and lists all of your currently installed programs
along with an option to uninstall them. It is a good idea to
browse through the add or remove programs utility every once in
a while just to make sure that all programs are of usefulness.
If there are programs listed that are no longer used, you can
simply highlight the program and click the uninstall button.
Windows will than begin the process to uninstall the program. In
most cases, to finish uninstalling a program, it is wise to
restart your computer. This will dump and files that are held
temporarily.
The add or remove programs utility is very useful, but not all
of the programs are listed up front. Programs that come
pre-installed on your computer and the Windows operating system
can also be uninstalled. For instance, Outlook Express is a
default e-mail program that comes with the Windows XP operating
system. If you do not use this e-mail program you can uninstall
it. Click "add or remove windows components" found in the add or
remove programs utility and simply follow the instructions.
Defragment
Many offices contain a large number of files and programs that
are valuable and cannot be thrown away. In fact, they may
contain files that are not even used, but still have to be
retained for some reason. Although these files must remain in
the office, they need to be organized. This is why we create
file folders that hold groups of files that are related. Than we
store them in cabinets that are arranged in alphabetic order.
In a computer, the files that are saved are placed on the hard
drive. However, they are placed according to the time that they
were saved. So, if you open a word document and save the file as
"file A" and than open another document and save it as "file B",
you have a "file A" placed next to "file B." This is fine, but
if you open "file A" later on and save it again, than the added
information is saved next to "file B."
When files are broken up this way it is referred to as a
fragmented file. This means that the computer must find the
first part of the file and then find the second part of the file
to open that one word document. This can make your computer run
slower. However, Windows has created a utility that is meant to
rearrange files so that they are no longer fragmented but sit
right next to each other.
You can run the disk defragmenter by selecting "all programs"
under the start button. Next, select "accessories" and "system
tools" and you will see "disk defragmenter." In fact, this is
also an alternative way to select the disk cleanup mentioned
earlier. Before starting the defragmenter you can analyze your
hard drive to see if Windows recommends performing the
defragmenter. It will either say that you should or should not
defragment at this time.
If you need to defragment your computer, simply hit the
defragment button. It may take your computer a while to finish
this task depending on the speed of your computer and the amount
of defragmented files. It could take from about 15-30 minutes or
more. However, you can still use the computer while the disk
defragmenter is working.
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