Speed Up Your PC in 3 Easy Steps

Is your computer running sluggishly? Here’s a 3-step process for giving it a quick tune-up: CLEAN, DEFRAG, PREVENT. You might find that doing so improves your PC’s performance substantially.

CLEAN.
First, let’s tell the computer to delete unnecessary files from your PC with the “Disk Cleanup” accessory application. Don’t worry: Disk Cleanup won’t delete any of your files, programs, or user data. This application only deletes temporary system files that accumulate on your PC from extensive internet usage and applications that don’t “clean up after themselves”.

1. Go to Start and click on All Programs.
2. Select Accessories, then System Tools, then Disk Cleanup.
3. The program will begin by scanning your hard drive. After a minute or two, a dialog box will pop up with suggestions on what can be cleaned up. I recommend checking all the boxes that are available in the dialog box.
4. Then click OK and let Disk Cleanup run in the background. It may run for up to an hour in some cases.

DEFRAG.
Over time, your hard drive becomes cluttered, just like your desk. Files are scattered in fragments throughout your hard drive and it becomes harder and harder for your system to locate and read those files when it needs them. A “defragmentation” program will scan your hard drive and rearrange all the files on your hard drive in a streamlined, organized fashion so that your computer can find what it needs in a fraction of the time it took before.

There is a defragmentation program built into Windows XP. To run it:

1. Go to Start / All Programs / Accessories / System Tools
2. Choose Disk Defragmenter
3. Click on the Defragment button
4. Let the Disk Defragmenter run!
5. It will tell you when it’s finished…you can close out of the application when it’s done.

PREVENT.
Here’s one way to ensure that your PC won’t accumulate a ton of unnecessary files in the future.

1. On your desktop, right-click on the Internet Explorer icon (the blue “e”) and select Properties.
2. Click on the Settings button.
3. In the white box, change the number to a low number such as 5. (This changes the maximum amount of temporary data that Internet Explorer can leave on your hard drive.) Click OK.
4. Now click on the Advanced tab.
5. Scroll down to the Security section. Look for an item that says “Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed” (should be the 8th item listed under Security). Check the box next to this item if it isn’t already checked. This will ensure that whatever files Internet Explorer creates will automatically get deleted every time you finish using it.
6. Click Apply.
7. Click OK.

(NOTE:  Click here to read the 2008 sequel to this Tech Tip, which explores third-party applications that improve upon the Clean-Defrag-Prevent model of PC health.)