A CLEAN COMPUTER IS A HAPPY COMPUTER!!!

Your computer has to be kept clean whether you like it or not and it needs a good old sort out every so often!

If you find that your computer is crashing more often than it used to or that you cannot get somewhere as quickly as you ought to be able to you may find that it is because your computer is bogged down with stuff you do not need.

It is so important that you do it regularly!

You may want to print this out so you can follow it more easily!

 

DEFRAG!

(gets your hard drive (C) in order again)

Press Ctrl Alt & Delete buttons together

This brings up a list of all programmes currently running on your system.

Highlight each one in turn except Explorer 

 click 'End task' on each one until only Explorer is running.

You will also need to turn off any screensaver prog you have running.

Go to (start > settings >) Control Panel > Display >

On the screensaver tab select 'NONE' from the list of available screen savers 

 click on the 'apply' button

 

Click on your start menu, scroll up to programs, click on accessories, click on system tools, click on Disk Defragmentor.

SCANDISK

(checks and fixes errors)

Click on your start menu, scroll to programs, click on accessories, click on system tools, click on scandisk.

 DELETE TEMP INTERNET FILES

( deletes pages you have visited on the internet that computer has stored)

Right click on Internet explorer icon on your desk top, double click on 'Windows' then on Temp Internet Files. Hi-lite all and hit the delete button.

With WindowsME...Right click explorer icon on desktop.

In general click 'delete temp files' and also 'Clear history'

DELETING TEMP FILES

This is another area where files you do not need are stored!

Right click on Internet explorer icon on your desk top, double click on Windows then on Temp. Hi-lite all and hit the delete button

DELETING COOKIES

(cookies are stored on your computer, like the temp internet files are , to give the computer shortcuts to pages you have already visited.  When you visit a page, a cookie is downloaded to your computer making it easier and quicker for the computer to find that page again.  This is a good thing, but if you get too many of them then your computer can become bogged down and it is time to clear them out and start again)

Right click on Internet explorer Icon on desktop, double click on Windows then on Cookies,  hi-lite them all and hit delete.

(WinME click on Internet Explorer icon on desktop > properties > delete cookies)

 NEVER delete the Index file in cookies!!

DELETING FILES AND HISTORY

This is another area you can clear out!!

Double click on 'My Computer' then 'Control Panel' then 'Internet Options'

From here you can delete more temp files and the history folder....where pages you have visited in the last x number of days are stored.  You can also change the number of days pages are saved in 'History'

The Recycle Bin

Once you have deleted everything you can, the last job is to go to the Recycle Bin. Hi-lite it, go to File  on the top bar, click on Empty Recycle Bin.

 

Aim to do some of these as often as possible and you really should see a difference in how your computer behaves! 

Now don't forget....Keep it Clean

My thanks to Dottie & Markus (Jersey Beans) for some of this info

CC