DISK DRIVE MAINTENANCE
To keep a PC running smoothly, regular maintenance is critical. Many users shy away
from maintenance tasks, thinking it is a long, drawn out manual affair, but the Disk
Cleanup Utility can easily determine which files on a hard drive may no longer be
needed and delete those files. In addition to freeing up potentially significant amounts
of hard drive space, using Disk Cleanup on a regular basis can significantly improve
system performance.
There are two separate operations performed to maintain your computer’s hard drive.
1. Disk Clean-up
2. Post Disk Clean-up (Defragmentation)
1. Disk Cleanup
STEP 1:
Select My Computer
STEP 2:
Select the computer’s Hard Drive.
Use the mouse right button (Left Button if left-handed).
Locate and select the Properties option.
STEP 3:
Select the Disk Cleanup option to start the Clean-up process.
Once the process starts you will see a small informational screen with a progress bar.
The next informational screen in the sequence is a summary of the type of files that
Windows found that can be removed to save space. Instead of automatically
proceeding with cleanup once the drive analysis is complete, Disk Cleanup allows you
to review the categories of files that can be deleted.
Notice that each category has a check box. Windows is installed with certain defaults
that you can change. By checking or un-checking the boxes you tell Windows what to
clean-up. Check is equal to a Yes for clean-up. (Description of the categories are on
the following page).
There are 3 categories that it is recommended they remain unchecked:
Office Setup Files
Compress Old Files
Catalog Files for the Content Indexer
Once you select OK the clean-up process will take place.
File Categories in the Disk Cleanup Utility
There are a number of different types of file categories that Disk Cleanup targets when
it performs the initial disk analysis. Depending on the individual system, you may or
may not have all the categories listed below. An excellent example of this would be
Backup Files from a Previous Operating System. If a clean install of XP was performed
then this category will not exist.
Downloaded Program Files
These are ActiveX controls and Java applets downloaded from Web sites that are
temporarily stored in the Downloaded Program Files folder. They are NOT program
files or zip files that you have downloaded from other locations.
Temporary Internet Files
This refers to Internet Explorer's cache (cache is a temporary storage area) of Web
pages that are stored on the hard drive for quicker viewing. None of your personal web
settings are affected by selecting this category, nor does it delete any cookie files.
Recycle Bin
The main thing to be aware of in this category is that it only refers to the Recycle Bin for
the selected hard drive or partition. This is important since Windows XP uses an
individual Recycle Bin for each drive and partition, not just one as is the case in some
Windows versions. If your computer has two local hard drives, you need to run two
separate clean-up processes.
Temporary Remote Desktop Files
These files are the result of using the Remote Desktop utility. Remote Desktop Utility
allows you to access your computer from anywhere in the world, as long as you have
internet connection. If you repeatedly use Remote Desktop with the same computer or
group of computers, leaving these files intact will maintain the speed of future
connections. Deleting them will necessitate downloading the remote systems icons and
wallpaper the next time a connection is established.
Setup Log Files
These are really pretty useless unless you have a specific reason to go back and see
what occurred during XP setup.
Backup Files For Previous Operating System
This category will be present if you did upgrade from a previous Windows version and
selected the option to be able to uninstall XP, it may well exist. It takes some major
hard drive space to copy all the files necessary to back up a previous system's core
files, drivers, etc. This entry can range anywhere from a few hundred megabytes up to
a gigabyte, so unless you are still considering dumping XP this is a good category to
select.
Offline Files
Users with slower dialup connections and those using laptops frequently make websites
they use often available offline. Depending on how many levels deep you save the
sites, they can eat up gigabytes of hard drive space very quickly. Worse than taking up
space, the sites often contain outdated information. This category is a good candidate
for deletion.
Compress Old Files
Compress Old Files does not delete any files from the drive. It compresses files that
Windows has not accessed for a specified period of time. The files are still available,
but there will be a slight increase in access times because the files will be
decompressed the next time they are accessed. Normally when Compress Old Files is
highlighted, an Options button appears. Clicking it will allow you to set the number of
days to wait before an unaccessed file is compressed.
Note: Categories that appear in your Disk Cleanup window, display an explanation of
the category in the Description area when the category item is highlighted.
The Disk Cleanup More Options Tab
In Windows XP there are three choices available on the More Options tab: Windows
Components, Installed Programs, and System Restore.
Windows Components
When selecting the Windows Components section, launches a Windows Components
Wizard. Select a general category of components and drill down using the Details
button to locate the desired Windows component.
Installed Programs
The Installed Programs section opens the Add/Remove Programs dialog box. Any
installed program can be removed by selecting the individual program and clicking the
Change/Remove button. You cannot select multiple programs together to be removed.
Each removal operation must be treated as a separate unit.
System Restore
The System Restore section opens a dialog box where it asks if you are sure you want
to delete all but the most recent restore point. Click Yes or No depending on your
choice.
2. Post Disk Cleanup Procedures
Using Disk Cleanup will almost certainly rid your system of a substantial amount of
unneeded files. You could stop here and not suffer any ill consequences, but there are
a lot of gaps and empty spaces on the hard drive where the files were removed.
This would be an excellent time to run Disk Defragmenter to organize the hard drive
into contiguous sections.
The benefit is that the hard drive heads will spend less time seeking all the pieces of a
file and you'll see another performance boost.
Select the Tools Tab located at the top of the Properties dialog box. Then click on the
Defragment Now… option button.
Once you click on Defragment Now... in Disk Defragmenter status box you will see a
dialog screen like the one blow.
Click the Defragment option button to start the process of reorganizing and re-indexing
the files.
Once the process starts you will see Disk Defragmenter status box change to look
similar to the dialog screen like the one blow.
After the process ends you will see an option button to view the log of what events took
place and then exit this utility. You can also exit the utility without viewing the log.
Recommendation: at this point you should shut down and then restart your computer.