Most of the steps below are easy to perform and will work wonders for your Pc. Make sure you perform each task at least once per month. If your Pc is over a year old and you have not carried out any kind of maintenance, the process could take some hours to complete. Don't worry, once you have carried out these tasks for the first time, It should take only around half an hour the next time you maintain your Pc.
Empty Recycle Bin The first thing to do is empty your recycle bin, this may seem obvious, but it is surprising how many people let the recycle bin clog up with unwanted files.When o delete a file, It is stored In the recycle bin folder, this gives you the chance to restore It later If you wish. Keeping these files takes up hard disc space, so if you no longer require them, delete them by simply right clicking on the recycle bin icon on your desktop and selecting "empty recycle bin" from the drop down menu. Install Unused Programs Over a period of time you will have loaded many programs from CD discs and from the Internet. You will most likely have many programs which you no longer use.These programs are taking valuable hard disc space and need to be deleted.
You deed to go through all your installed programs and delete the ones you no longer require. To do this go to your start menu, control panel then click on the add / remove programs icon. You can now delete the programs you don't use from the window like this one below : If you need to delete a program, click on the program name, ( Toshiba Console in this example ) and click on change/ remove. Disk Cleanup This feature is included in the Windows system and a disk cleanup should be performed regularly.To access disk cleanup go to your start menu, programs, accessories, system tools then select disk cleanup from the drop down menu.
You will After a short time disk cleanup will have scanned your Pc and presented you with a box like this : Make sure you tick the Temporary Internet Files box. Overtime you view a web page the page is stored in this folder. If you have never deleted the contents of this folder before, you will have a huge amount of files saved in there taking up a massive amount of your hard disc space.Deleting the contents of this folder will work wonders for your internet surfing, it should be faster. Now let's do a Defray. Defrauding The Hard Disc The reason we need to defragmenter is because when a program is stored on the hard rive the fragments of files can get split up.
When you use a program your Pc has to search and find all the fragments and Join the whole lot together, which slows down the speed of your Pc. Defragmenters finds all these files and puts them in their correct place, making the program open much faster, putting less strain on your Pc.To carry out a defragmenter, go to your start menu as before, programs, accessories, system tools and select disk defragmenter from the drop down menu. You will be presented with a box like this : Now click the defragmenter button and leave it to complete the process. This can take ours if you have not done it before, doing it every month will help speed the process up, the amount of time it takes will depend on the size of your hard drive.
Empty The Prefects Cache The prefects cache is something which is overlooked by most.Trying to improve the time it takes a program to load, the windows system guesses which files will be required next; these are loaded into a cache. This action is known as prenticing. Over a period of time the prefects cache can become loaded with files which are no longer used. When this happens it can slow down windows on start up. Emptying this cache can help speed your Pc on start up.
To do this, click run in the start up menu and type "Prefects" in the run box which appears, click k. The result is a window with numerous icons.Paste over the icons and delete. The cache is now ready to resume its work and will begin to refill with files and links as required. Doing this will improve the response of your Pc.
System Registry a quick note The system registry is where all your windows settings are stored, these settings change every time you add a program. There are literally thousands of entries which control your Pc and the way it behaves. Every time you install or install a program here are small traces of the program left behind.You are eventually left with entries which will never be used, unused drivers and maybe spare and other malicious as this is a very complicated area if you don't know what you are doing.
I would recommend using Registry cleaning software. One of the better ones is Registry Fix which includes a free scan and can be downloaded by clicking here. Another is Error Doctor which is one of the top programs for cleaning and repairing Pc registries, Error Doctor can be downloaded by clicking here. If you are going to use one of the programs above, do this after you have carried out al the other steps.This will complete the process and your computer will run in tip top form. I have a tip for you below: Another Tip It is always worth adding more memory to your computer.
Some computers really do need an extra boost in the memory department. If you are running Windows Xp, you will need a minimum of iamb of Ram, even this may put a strain on your system if you are running any kind of graphics or games. Upgrading to a iamb card will really speed up the processing power, if you have a laptop you can upgrade to mamba on some models and this makes a huge difference to the speed of your computer.
