How a Windows Cleanup Will Speed Up Your Computer | ArticlesBase.com

<p>If you’re looking for an easy manual way to <a href="http://optimize-your-pc.com/regcure/pc_speed.php" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">speed up your computer</a>, a Windows cleanup is the way to go.  Just follow these two easy steps to see how a Windows cleanup will speed up your computer.</p> <p><strong>Step One: Remove Unneeded Files and Programs</strong></p> <p>The first step in a Windows Cleanup is the purge.  By eliminating files and programs you no longer use, you free up much needed space on your hard drive and give your computer less to store and less chances for file and registry corruption.  The utility you will be using for this step is the Disk Cleanup tool.</p> <ul> <li>Go to the Start menu</li> <li>Select All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and click on Disk Cleanup.</li> <li>This is best done when you have all other programs closed.</li> <li>The cleanup runs automatically and can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours, depending on how cluttered your PC’s hard drive is.</li> </ul> <p>When the Disk Cleanup is done scanning your PC, a window will pop up showing you a list of files you can safely delete from your computer (with suggested files selected).</p> <ul> <li>Before selecting OK, select the More Options tab</li> <li>Go down to Installed Programs</li> <li>Select Clean Up</li> <li>This will take you to the Add or Remove Programs browser where you can search through all of the programs on your PC and choose to delete unneeded and unused programs.</li> <li>Then complete the Disk Cleanup, it may again take several minutes to an hour.  Step one is now finished.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Step Two: Defragment your Hard Drive</strong></p> <p>Defragmentation of your hard drive is an important step in keeping your PC running smoothly, but it is often neglected or ignored by PC owners, especially novices who don’t know about file fragmentation and hard drive clutter.  Everything you do on your computer goes through your hard drive.  Installed/uninstalled programs, saved/deleted files, they all have their place on your hard drive and consistent PC usage causes a mess you can’t even imagine.</p> <p>The defragment process first corrects fragmented files that have been broken up to fit into spaces too small for the entire file.  Then files are sorted and compressed into one contiguous block, which prevents future fragmentation and ensure new programs and files are added at the end of the block in the free space.</p> <p>To defragment your hard drive:</p> <ul> <li>Go to the Start menu</li> <li>Select All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and select Disk Defragmenter</li> <li>If you have multiple hard disks, you can choose which one you want to defragment, but the most important one is the C: drive.</li> <li>Again, make sure all programs on your PC are closed.</li> </ul> <p>This process may take several hours, especially if you have not defragged in a while, so if your PC is particularly old or slow, you might want to run it overnight.</p> <p>After you try all of this, it may be time to look into an advanced registry cleaning tool.  Learn about how to <a href="http://hubpages.com/hub/Speed-Up-Computer" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">speed up your computer</a> with free and useful information.</p><strong>About the Author:</strong><br /><p>Optimize-Your-PC can provide you with advanced registry cleaning technology. It will scan, diagnose, and <a target="new" href="http://hubpages.com/hub/Speed-Up-Computer" rel="nofollow">speed up your computer</a>, leaving you with nothing but a highly optimized PC.</p>