Today I am going to write about three quick and easy tips that can be done daily to speed up your computer to get the most performance from your system. Additionally like regular maintenance on a car, following these tips will keep your computer generally free of errors.
Free Up Disk Space
Windows has made it easy to free up disk space, a process that used to take running scripts, or programs now days Windows can do this through automation. In addition to freeing up space on your system by using the Disk Cleanup Tool, you will actually increase the performance of your hard drive. This tool compiles a listing of all files that can be safely deleted from your system and gives you the option of deleting them or not.
To run the Disk Cleanup Tool:
- Go to Start> All Programs> Accessories> System Tools> Disk Cleanup. In the event that you have several drives available, you will be prompted to choose a specific drive to be cleaned.
- Windows will now compile a listing of files that can be safely deleted. Once you have reviewed this list, you can place a checkmark next to the item that you wish to delete. By removing the check next to the item Disk Cleanup will leave these files on your system. Once you have selected the files you wish to delete, click OK.
- You will be prompted to confirm your selections. Click Yes.
Windows will now clear all of the selected files from your system, leaving it cleaner and performing much better.
Speed Up Access to Data
Data fragmentation occurs when a piece of data in memory is broken up into many pieces which are not close together. For example, files accessed by Windows are often broken up into pieces called blocks. When the hard disk is new, there is space to store the blocks of a file all together in one place. This allows for rapid sequential file reads and writes. However, as files are added, removed, and changed in size, the disk becomes externally fragmented, leaving only small holes to place new data in. When files are fragmented, the speed in which reading and writing of data on your hard drive can be effected.
So how do you fix data fragmentation? Simple by using the Disk Defragmenter, the fragmented files and folders will be consolidated and placed neatly on your hard drive. Once the files are called upon, Windows will be able to access them much more quickly and efficiently. We here at the association recommend that you run the Disk Defragmenter tool once a month to keep your system running at peak performance.
To run the Defragmenter tool:
- Go to Start> All Programs> Accessories> System Tools> Disk Defragmenter.
- Click the drives that you would like to Defragment from the Disk Defragmenter dialog box, and then click the Analyze button.
Once the Windows has finished examining your disk, Disk Defragmenter will inform you as to whether you should defragment the analyzed drives or not.
Note: The analyzing process is to give you an idea of how long it will take to defragment the selected drives. If you would like to skip the Analyzing process, just click the Defragment button instead.
- Next, click the Defragment button.
- Windows will now start defragmenting your selected drives. Once this process completes, it will display the results. You will be able to display a detailed report about the defragmented drive or partition by clicking "View Report".
- To close the View Report dialog box, click Close.
- Close the Disk Defragmenter utility by clicking the Close button on the title bar of the window.
Detect and Repair Disk Errors
The Error Checking utility checks the integrity of the files stored on your hard disk. Over time, it is possible that your hard disk can develop bad sectors which can lead to files being misplaced. By using this utility, Windows can find these misplaced files and place them where they can be found when needed. In addition, the Error Checking utility will repair hard disk errors whenever possible.
Microsoft recommends that Windows users run this utility weekly if they use their computer on a daily basis.
To run the Error Checking utility:
Important: Be sure that all files and folders are closed prior to using this utility.
- Go to Start> My Computer.
- Right click the hard disk that you would like to check for example the C drive.
- Choose Properties
- Click the Tools tab.
- Click the "Check Now" button.
- Select the "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors" check box, then click Start.
- If a Windows finds a bad sector(s) then just choose to fix them.
Note: It is only necessary to make the selection to Automatically fix file system errors if you think that your disk contains bad sectors. Nothing bad will happen it will just take longer and you won’t be notified if an error is fixed.
If you run into any problems following the steps above or need additional assistance with your computer then please feel free to drop me an email or ping me on yahoo and I will be happy to answer any questions you may have.
