Hard Drive Maintenance
There's no need to go to the garage and get your tools. Drive maintenance amounts to keeping the installed operating system and associated software clean and uncluttered. I've broken down hard drive maintenance into two distinct sections: active and preventative. Let's take a look at each of them.
Active Maintenance - Cleaning Things Up
1. The Internet is a wonderful resource, but it can also be the cause of many of the problems we encounter on our computers every day. When we surf the web, we end up with various components of web pages stored in a folder, the temporary Internet cache. This cache can become quite large, depending on the size set in your browser, and it should be cleared occasionally.
Other junk files that build up on your hard drive include temporary and duplicate files created by the operating system and various application software, plus files that have been sent to the recycle bin, chkdsk file fragments, etc.
Over a few weeks these "junk" files can build up to the point that there are literally hundreds of megabytes of them. They're just sitting there, doing nothing. Well, actually they are doing something - they're slowing down your system! Your hard drive has to wade through more and more junk to find what it's looking for. Windows has a disk cleanup utility under Start menu/Accessories/System Tools that can remove lots of this stuff. There are even better 3rd party utilities for this purpose.
2. The Windows registry, essentially a huge configuration file, can become bloated with leftovers of uninstalled programs, drivers, etc. It needs a good cleaning, too. Unfortunately, Windows doesn't have a registry cleaner, so you'll need to look elsewhere. Again, there are some fine 3rd party versions.
3. Unused software programs should be removed, thus freeing up disk space and clutter. Although most programs come with their own uninstallers, including Windows, they usually don't remove all they should. You can find special uninstaller programs that are designed to get rid of everything a program places on your system.
4. Another problem is desktop clutter. Too many shortcuts on the desktop will make Windows load more slowly. Remove some of your icons manually or go to Control Panel/Display/Desktop/ Customize Desktop and click Clean the Desktop.
5. Most people have far too many background applications and services running. These also slow Windows load times and consume precious system resources, reducing performance. Windows has a command line utility called "msconfig" that can be used to prevent unnecessary programs from starting and running behind the scenes. There are even better 3rd party utilities for this purpose that provide you with more information on each program so you'll know whether or not to "turn it off."
6. If your system is really, really slow and doing weird things, you may have spyware or a virus. Restart your computer, hit the F8 key until the option screen comes up and choose Safe Mode with Networking. Safe mode will often keep the malware from starting up and running, making it easier to remove. If you don't have up-to-date antispyware/antivirus software on your computer (shame on you), this is the time to download, install and run it.
7. If your hard drive is a traditional mechanical drive, once all this house cleaning has been done it's time to defragment the remaining programs and files. Windows has its own disk defragmenter located under Start menu/Accessories/System Tools, that will do the job but, again, there are better ones available elsewhere. SSD's do not require defragmenting.
Preventative Maintenance - Being Prepared
1. I'll include up-to-date anti-virus/anti-spyware software in this section also, because of its ability to prevent some very nasty things from happening to your computer. There are some free offerings that do a decent job. I personally like a high quality, commercial, all-in-one program that updates and scans automatically at preset times with no user intervention. It's definitely worth paying for to keep your computer safe.
2. If you don't have your data backed up you're going to regret it at some point. Most people have their documents, spreadsheets, photos, music, etc. stored in the My Documents Folder. At the very least back up this data to a removable drive.
3. Even if you have factory Restore Disks or a Windows CD you'll wish you had made a recovery CD of your own that contains a snapshot of your entire system as it exists at that time. If disaster strikes, you can restore your computer so that everything is just like it was before things went so badly wrong.
Active Maintenance - Cleaning Things Up
1. The Internet is a wonderful resource, but it can also be the cause of many of the problems we encounter on our computers every day. When we surf the web, we end up with various components of web pages stored in a folder, the temporary Internet cache. This cache can become quite large, depending on the size set in your browser, and it should be cleared occasionally.
Other junk files that build up on your hard drive include temporary and duplicate files created by the operating system and various application software, plus files that have been sent to the recycle bin, chkdsk file fragments, etc.
Over a few weeks these "junk" files can build up to the point that there are literally hundreds of megabytes of them. They're just sitting there, doing nothing. Well, actually they are doing something - they're slowing down your system! Your hard drive has to wade through more and more junk to find what it's looking for. Windows has a disk cleanup utility under Start menu/Accessories/System Tools that can remove lots of this stuff. There are even better 3rd party utilities for this purpose.
2. The Windows registry, essentially a huge configuration file, can become bloated with leftovers of uninstalled programs, drivers, etc. It needs a good cleaning, too. Unfortunately, Windows doesn't have a registry cleaner, so you'll need to look elsewhere. Again, there are some fine 3rd party versions.
3. Unused software programs should be removed, thus freeing up disk space and clutter. Although most programs come with their own uninstallers, including Windows, they usually don't remove all they should. You can find special uninstaller programs that are designed to get rid of everything a program places on your system.
4. Another problem is desktop clutter. Too many shortcuts on the desktop will make Windows load more slowly. Remove some of your icons manually or go to Control Panel/Display/Desktop/ Customize Desktop and click Clean the Desktop.
5. Most people have far too many background applications and services running. These also slow Windows load times and consume precious system resources, reducing performance. Windows has a command line utility called "msconfig" that can be used to prevent unnecessary programs from starting and running behind the scenes. There are even better 3rd party utilities for this purpose that provide you with more information on each program so you'll know whether or not to "turn it off."
6. If your system is really, really slow and doing weird things, you may have spyware or a virus. Restart your computer, hit the F8 key until the option screen comes up and choose Safe Mode with Networking. Safe mode will often keep the malware from starting up and running, making it easier to remove. If you don't have up-to-date antispyware/antivirus software on your computer (shame on you), this is the time to download, install and run it.
7. If your hard drive is a traditional mechanical drive, once all this house cleaning has been done it's time to defragment the remaining programs and files. Windows has its own disk defragmenter located under Start menu/Accessories/System Tools, that will do the job but, again, there are better ones available elsewhere. SSD's do not require defragmenting.
Preventative Maintenance - Being Prepared
1. I'll include up-to-date anti-virus/anti-spyware software in this section also, because of its ability to prevent some very nasty things from happening to your computer. There are some free offerings that do a decent job. I personally like a high quality, commercial, all-in-one program that updates and scans automatically at preset times with no user intervention. It's definitely worth paying for to keep your computer safe.
2. If you don't have your data backed up you're going to regret it at some point. Most people have their documents, spreadsheets, photos, music, etc. stored in the My Documents Folder. At the very least back up this data to a removable drive.
3. Even if you have factory Restore Disks or a Windows CD you'll wish you had made a recovery CD of your own that contains a snapshot of your entire system as it exists at that time. If disaster strikes, you can restore your computer so that everything is just like it was before things went so badly wrong.
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