The PC Surgery - Tiscali.co.uk

After using your computer for a while, the hard drive becomes as cluttered and disorganised as the junk room in your house. Throwing in files and applications, temporary internet files and other PC ephemera means things can get pretty clogged as stop your computer running as smoothly as it should, but a regular clear out can help to keep things neat and tidy. Here we show you how to use Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter to free the lines of communication betwixt you and your hard drive.

Disk Cleanup

Windows includes a Disk Cleanup utility that will churn through all your files, ditching those you don't need or use to free up more space.

STEP 1

To access the Disk Cleanup tool click on Start, My Computer, then right click on the C drive icon, or whichever drive is your main hard drive, and select Properties. This will give you a pie chart showing how much hard drive space is free and how much is being used. Click the button below the pie chart to go directly to Disk Cleanup.
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STEP 2
Disk Cleanup then runs a scan to calculate how much space you can potentially save if you get rid of everything you could.
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STEP 3
Once it has finished scanning your hard drive, Disk Cleanup gives you a list of all the files you can get rid of. Check the boxes next to the ones you want to throw away, and Disk Cleanup automatically calculates how much space you can save. Clicking on each category explains what these files are so you know what you are getting rid of. There is also an option to view the files you are planning to ditch, so you can check there is nothing vital among them. Clicking ok will delete all the files you have checked. Disk Cleanup asks you to confirm your request before going ahead.
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STEP 4

A progress bar shows you how far Disk Cleanup has got with tidying up your hard drive. Depending on how messy your hard drive is, how large it is and how many files you have chosen to get rid of, this can take quite some time.
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STEP 5

Once disk cleaning is complete you can see how much space you have cleared by, choosing Start, My Computer, then right-clicking on the main hard drive icon. Select Properties again to see the new figure for free hard drive space. Compare this to the original figure and you will see the difference this has made to your free hard drive space. We've freed up 2.2GB.
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STEP 6

If your hard drive is really packed and you need even more space, you can click on the More Options tab in the Disk Cleanup dialog box. This allows you to delete unnecessary Windows Components, Applications and old System Restore files. Clicking on any of the options gives you more information on what you can remove, and what purpose it serves. But do be careful before you go deleting files that you may need again.
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Disk Defragmenter

Another useful tool in your battle against an untidy hard drive is Disk Defragmenter. Fragmentation occurs when files are divided into pieces and scattered around your hard disk. It occurs when a disk is used all the time, constantly creating, deleting and changing files. At some point the OS will start to store files in disorganised clusters, and this can slow down the speed at which data is accessed as it takes the disk drive longer to search through the entire disk to find all the parts that make up a single file. Defragmentation puts all those parts back together again.

STEP 1
Getting to the defragment tool is similar to finding the Disk Cleanup utility. Click on Start, My Computer, then right-click on the main hard drive icon, select Properties, and click on the Tools tab. To start defragging, click on the Defragment Now button
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STEP 2
This brings up the Disk Defragmenter screen. You can choose to analyse your disk to find out just what state it is in, or just dive straight into defragmenting it.
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STEP 3
Even if you choose to simply defragment, the disk will be analysed, and a graphic will be provided to show how much space can be saved. Each file type is represented by a different colour. A progress bar in the lefthand corner shows you how much of the disk has been defragmented.
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STEP 4
If you don't defragment your drive regularly the process can take quite some time. Often it is a good idea to leave your PC to defragment overnight, or on a day when you don't plan to use it. If you change your mind you can pause or stop defragmentation at any time. Once defragging is complete, you can view a report to see just how it has reorganised your files and how much space has been saved.
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