Maintaining your PC
 
Using Disk Cleanup Windows XP provides tools to help you free up storage space on your hard disks and to keep the disks running smoothly and efficiently. Disk Cleanup determines which files on a hard drive may no longer be needed and deletes those files, freeing up a potentially significant amount of space. Disk Cleanup helps you remove unnecessary files from your computer. These include temporary Internet files, unused programs, and deleted files. During Disk Cleanup your hard drives are scanned for files that can safely be deleted, but you still have the option to keep or delete these files. It also provides shortcuts to the Windows Components and Remove Programs to remove features and programs you don't use. It is recommended that you use Disk Cleanup quarterly or every other month.
 
 
How to use Disk Cleanup
 
1. Close all programs.
2. Choose Start menu | All Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Disk Cleanup.
3. In the Files to delete list, check or clear files as desired. Note: Files that can be safely cleared include: Temporary Internet Files, Offline Webpages, Recycle Bin, Temporary files, WebClient/Publisher Temporary Files, Compress old files, and Catalog files for the Content Indexer.
 
Note: Unlike the other choices, Compress Old Files doesn't delete files. Instead, it compresses files that haven't been accessed for a specified period of time. If you highlight Compress Old Files and click the Options button, you will see the number of days to wait before an unaccessed file is compressed. If you run Disk Cleanup quarterly, you can set this to 90 days.
 
Note: Downloaded Program Files should not be removed using Disk Cleanup. You should not need to click the View Files button in Disk Cleanup.
4. Click OK to delete the files.
5. Click Yes to confirm you want to perform the cleanup actions.
6. Wait for the files to be deleted.
 
Use Disk Defragmenter Disk defragmenter consolidates files so that each is saved in contiguous physical space on the hard drive. When your computer crashes or freezes, the drive becomes fragmented. This means the files may be broken up and stored in different locations in your computer. This causes programs and files to run more slowly. By running Disk Defragmenter you are making your computer access the files faster and your computer uses storage space more efficiently. If you like you may chose to analyze your hard drive first, and then depending on what is found you can Defragment or you may ignore the suggestion and just Defragment the drive.
 
Please note that this process can take time to complete.
 
How to use Disk Defragmenter
 
Note: If possible, see our How To Use Disk Check and follow its steps to correct disk errors prior to performing the Disk Defragment.
1. Close all programs.
2. Choose Start menu | All Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Disk Defragmenter.
3. Select the drive you want to clean and click OK. Note: Most cases this would be C:.
4. Click Analyze.
5. This may take several minutes.
 
Note: If the drive needs defragmented and you choose Defragment in Step 6, this may take several minutes to several hours, depending on the number of files to consolidate.
6. Click Close or Defragment.
 
Sometimes when your Internet Explorer isn’t displaying correctly or not connecting to web pages like it should, you may need to clear the cache or those temporary internet files. Internet Explorer has a nice window that will allow you to delete other browsing history such as cookies, history of recent pages, and passwords. This how to will give you the steps to delete all or individual sets of files.
1. Open Internet Explorer Tools menu to Internet Options
2. Click Delete.
3. Click on the appropriate Delete… button for the files that you want to delete.
4. Alternatively, you may click on Delete All… at the bottom.
5. Click Yes at the warning
6. When finished, click Close and OK to return to your Internet Explorer window
7. Close the Internet Explorer window and reopen