The Ultimate PC Tune Up Guide
Do a backup.
First do a backup. Whether we want to admit it or not, all hard drives fail, and furthermore, hard drives never crash at a convenient time. So before we start doing anything, let’s back up your hard drive. I use an external hard drive connected to a USB2 port and I try to back up at least once a month. I only back up my critical data, which is essentially the My <a href="http://yah-underworld.com/" target="_blank">Documents</a> directory and my email folders. The entire process takes about half an hour.
Delete your junk mail folder.
Did you know that junk mail slows down system performance? Every time you receive an email (good or bad), that email is written to your hard drive. Not such a big deal, but 90% of the email that I receive is actually spam, and it just eats up hard drive space, and further fragments my hard drive. Usually before deleting my junk mail folder, I try to take a quick skim to see if it accidentally classified a good email as bad (the dreaded false positive). In the course of a month, I usually find about 1-2 good <a href="http://yah-underworld.com/" target="_blank">emails</a> marked as spam.
Empty the recycle bin.
When you delete a file, it really is still on your hard drive in the recycle bin, out of sight, out of mind. Although it is handy to be able to find an accidentally deleted file, over time, <a href="http://yah-underworld.com/" target="_blank">gigabytes</a> and gigabytes of junk accumulate and should be <a href="http://yah-underworld.com/" target="_blank">erased</a> . Note: this also poses a security risk because it makes it easy for people to find the things you really wanted permanently deleted. At PC Pitstop, we have seen systems with more than 50GB’s sitting in the Recycle Bin.
Clear out temporary system files.
What happens when you open an attachment from your favorite email client, or when Word is doing an auto save on your new novel? All of your data and much more is being stored in temporary system files throughout your <a href="http://yah-underworld.com/" target="_blank">hard</a> drive. Just like your recycle bin, it can be handy, but over the course of days and weeks, it only serves to clog up your hard drive. You should reclaim all of that space, and sometimes it can be a lot!
Clear out internet cache.
Whether your browser is FireFox or Internet Explorer, both have an internet cache with tons of information about each and every web site you visit. In the short term, these caches speed up web browsing, but over the medium term, if you browse the web a lot (who doesn’t?), then these caches get big and unwieldy. At PC Pitstop, we <a href="http://yah-underworld.com//" target="_blank">actually</a> have seen more than one PC with an internet cache of more than 100GB.
Uninstall any unused programs.
It has happened to all of us, we download 4-5 software applications, looking for a solution to a particular problem. That’s great, but your hard drive now has quite a few applications that <a href="http://yah-underworld.com/" target="_blank">you</a> never intend to use. Or perhaps, you downloaded/bought something a long time ago, but you no longer have a use for it. If this is the case, then uninstall any and all programs that you no longer have a use for. There are three big reasons why you should uninstall <a href="http://yah-underworld.com/" target="_blank">programs</a> you don’t use. 1) Programs take up hard drive space, 2) Many programs install background processes that use up processor cycles and memory even if you are not using them, and 3) All programs create entries into your Windows Registry. By uninstalling unwanted programs, you are also uninstalling unwanted registry entries.
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