What causes a computer to slow down? Several things contribute to a computer losing processing power and speed, but one of the main enemies of PC speed are saved files taking up hard drive space. The more data that your hard drive has on it, the longer it takes the PC to find the data it's looking for, thus slowing your computer down. By fixing this issue, you can reclaim much of the speed your computer has lost since you bought it.
The first step to speeding up your computer is to clean out your Internet cache. Your browser records all your recent surfing activity including a copy of web pages, images, and media, as well as a list of URLs or web sites you have visited. It's easy to see that if you surf the Internet very much, your computer will collect a large amount of data that does nothing but take up space. To clear you Internet cache, open up your browser to your home page. In this tutorial, we are using Internet Explorer. Click on the Tools button. Go to Internet Options. There will be several options available. Be sure to delete the Temporary Internet Files, Cookies, and History. While you are in the Internet Options window, it is a good idea to check how much disk space the Temporary Internet Files folder is using. It is recommended that you use 50MB to 250MB. I personally use the minimum of 50 MB. Also, you can specify how many days Internet Explorer should save the list of websites you have visited. The fewer days you set it for, the less space it takes. I set mine to 2 days.
The second step is to find and delete old files that you don't need or use anymore. Most of these files will be located in the My Documents folder. To open up that folder, click the start button and then click on the Documents icon. On some computers you will need to click on the My Computer icon and then click on the My Documents icon. Once you have that folder open, find a file you want to delete and right click on it. Select delete, then confirm by clicking Yes. To select multiple files, hold down the Control button and select as many as you want. Then right click on one of the highlighted files and select delete. Once you confirm the deletion, they will be sent to the Recycle Bin. It is a good idea to search the sub folders to make sure there are no more files that you want to delete.
The newer versions of Windows, like XP and Vista, take occasional snapshots of your hard drive called Restore Points. They are created as a backup feature just in case something goes wrong with a software install or uninstall so you can restore your computer to an earlier working condition. While they are great to have, they can take up a lot of space on your hard drive. To remove all but the most recent restore point, click on the Start button, go to All Programs > Accessories > System Tools and click on Disk Cleanup. Select the C Drive and click OK. Click the More Options tab. In the box labeled System Restore, click the Clean Up button. Your old, unneeded restore points are removed from your hard drive now. You can disable System Restore if you want, but it is not covered in this tutorial and it is not recommended to do so.
Even though you have deleted a lot of files that you don't need, many of them are still stored on your hard drive in the Recycle Bin. In order to fully remove them from your hard drive, you must empty the Recycle Bin. The Recycle Bin icon is usually located on your desktop. Simply, find the icon and right click on it. Select Empty Recycle Bin and confirm by clicking Yes. Now you have finished deleting the unwanted files from your hard drive.
The final step needed to speed up your computer is to defragment your hard drive. Over the years, as more programs are installed and more files saved on your computer, less and less space is available for storage. Then, when a new, large file is saved on your hard drive it may be fragmented and saved in two or more spots on your hard drive. When the file is called on by the computer, it has to pull the file form two or more places and join them together in the memory before it can be used. Defragmenting your computer allows files to be moved and placed together in one spot, thus speeding up the retrieval process. To defragment your computer, click on the Start button, go to All Programs > Accessories > System Tools and click on Disk Defragmenter. Select the C Drive and click Defragment.
I have left out some important information. Most of these steps listed above can be controlled by one utility, Disk Cleanup. Click on the Start button, go to All Programs > Accessories > System Tools and click on Disk Cleanup. Select the C Drive and click OK. From this one place, you can delete Temporary Internet Files, empty the Recycle Bin, defrag your hard drive if needed, and more. Just check each item you want performed and click OK. Then confirm by clicking Yes.
How often do you perform the required maintenance? Some experts say that you should perform this type of maintenance every 6 months. I suggest that you do it more often, about once a month. In fact, if you spend a lot of time on the Internet like I do, it is a good idea to run the Disk Cleanup utility every week as a bare minimum. Then you can perform more in depth maintenance every month or two.
There are many other, more advanced steps that you can take to speed up your computer, like cleaning out your Temp folders, paring down the Startup folder, removing programs and Windows components you don't use, running anti-spyware and anti-virus programs, repairing or maintaining the registry, deleting old Windows Update files, and much more. However, the basic steps I've outlined above are at least the bare minimum for keeping your computer clean and running quickly and properly for hopefully many years to come
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar