A Solution to System Errors and Performance Issues: Clean Up Your Hard Drive

Computers performing at a crawl are most often due to a full hard drive. Programs accumulate with every use, taking up huge disk space. Get more free space and the speed of PC performance is likely to improve. Gettid rid of clutter could

The first thing to do when clearing the drive is to look for unnecessary files. These often come pre-installed or programs that come along with installed applications. Most of these are not vital to the system but do take up a huge memory space. They are like goo that clogs the system.

Disk Cleanup

Disk cleanup is a built-in feature in Windows that helps keep tabs and delete unimportant data such as temporary internet files. Each time a user browses the Internet, information is temporarily stored in the PC. Without regular cleaning, these can accumulate and use a huge chunk of storage, especially with frequent internet browsing.

* Open "My Computer" by clicking the computer icon on the desktop.

* Right click the hard drive to clean. For example, clean the main drive "Drive C:"

* Select the option "Properties".

* The Properties window will appear. Click the option "Disk Cleanup".

* A window with a list of files will appear. Click the ones to be deleted. Unimportant ones to delete include log files, temporary files and those in the Recycle Bin. After checking these, click the OK button at the bottom of the window.

Disk cleanup can also be used to clean the system files. Follow the instructions above. When the window with a list appears, look for the "Clean up System Files" button, usually at the left side, towards the bottom of the window.

Another way is to click the "More Options" button in the Properties window. Select the "Clean up" button found in "System Restore and Shadow Copies". This will delete the data from system restore. All files beyond the current restore point will be deleted. Exercise caution when choosing this option. Make sure that the current point is working properly because after this process, older restore points will no longer be used.

Uninstalling Applications

Some applications just take up too much space. Uninstall these programs, especially if there are not that vital to the PC operation. To check, open the "Programs and Features" window in the "Control Panel". A list of programs in the PC will appear. Check the "Size" column to see how much space each application uses. If this column is not available, select the "Options" button located at the upper right corner of the list. Click "Details" to view the file size.

Again, exercise caution with this option. The file size information is not always accurate. Some applications do not show the actual disk space they use.

Temporary Files

The Disk Cleanup feature in Windows does not clean everything. It will not touch the temporary files from other programs, such as those in browser caches of Chrome or Firefox. Browser cache use the disk space to make future access to websites is faster and easier. However, this would the least of the worries if the rest of PC function is too slow. These files can easily use gigabytes worth of storage space. When freed, these gigabytes can make a huge difference in how fast the PC works.

Duplicate Files

Ever noticed a few files in several different folders. These duplicate files are unnecessary and clutter the system. They use up important space on the computer's memory. Scan the hard drive for these and delete them.

System Restore Files

Sometimes, "System Restore" has several restore points that eat up much space on the hard drive. Use this option with caution because less restore points can compromise the system when a restore is in order in the future. Make sure the saved restore point is the best in the lot.

Radical Alternatives

There are a few radical, nuclear options that can be used to free up more space. However, these steps can also disable a few vital features in Windows operation. Do these only when in desperate need for more disk space.

Hibernation

Hibernation feature can be disabled to free more space. RAM contents are saved each time the computer hibernates. The more often this happens, the more data is saved. This way, when the system is booted, the user is back right to the point of last use. By disabling the Hibernate feature, the computer no longer saves any data of from the last use, freeing a lot of memory.

System Restore

The "System Restore" feature can be disabled. Just like Hibernate, System Restore also saves data from the restore points. Disabling this will free some memory. Again, this is radical and will seriously compromise the system should a restore is needed in the future.