Here’s some advice about computer housekeeping!
6 jobs to do regularly to keep your computer in top shape:
- Empty your ‘Recycle Bin’ – When you delete a file, it does not disappear permanently into cyberspace, it stays on your disk in the ‘Recycle Bin’, just in case you deleted it by mistake. At least once a week, you should empty your Recycle Bin completely, to ensure that it does not get clogged up with all your computer rubbish.
- If you want to remove a program from your computer, make sure you use the ‘Add/Remove Programs’ function (via ‘Settings’) rather than just deleting the files you can see. If you don’t use the proper procedure, you will leave debris littered all over your disk!
- Make sure you delete files and emails that you no longer need. They are taking up valuable space on your disk! I know you may have xxx gigabytes of storage on your disk – they are very big these days – but good housekeeping says keep only what you need!
- If you have done a major computer housekeeping operation and deleted and/or moved a lot of files at once, it may be a good idea to check your disk to see if it needs De-fragmenting. You can find this function among the ‘performance and administration’ tools in the Control Panel. When lots of files have been moved around and/or deleted, this leaves spaces on the disk that may not be usable properly or efficiently. This function shuffles the files around on the physical disk to make sure that all the space can be used efficiently in future.
- If disk space is really tight, and you have already performed the other housekeeping tasks in this list, it might be time to use Compression on your files. File Compression changes the structure of the files so that they take up less space on the disk, although there may be a performance penalty by doing this. It is best to use compression only on files that are not used very often.
- Use a Registry Cleaner. The registry is the database that is used in Microsoft Windows to store information about each program that is installed in the computer, and its current status. A Registry Cleaner scans your system, especially the registry, and allows you to correct and/or remove any errors found due to bad housekeeping. Using a Registry Cleaner program regularly should have a significant effect on improving the performance of your computer system.