Maintaining Windows XP

As you use your computer, you collect unnecessary files that Windows uses as you are surfing the internet or files left over by a program uninstalled previously. These files can often slow down your computer and no one wants that.

In order to get rid of these files, you need to run a few simple programs that will help delete, compress, and/or organize these files.

These programs are called "Disk Cleanup" and "Disk Defragmenter". These actions should be completed fairly often depending on how you use your computer.

If you are a casual web surfer, creating Word and Excel documents, not downloading a lot, then a monthly run of Cleanup and Defragmenter should keep your computer well organized and "clean".

However, if you use your computer more, downloading quite a bit of files, you should probably perform a weekly Cleanup and Defrag.

Disk Cleanup

To start "Disk Cleanup":

Open the "Start" Menu

Go to "All Programs"

Go to "Accessories"

Go to "System Tools"

When the menu opens, click on "Disk Cleanup"

A window will open, asking you to select which drive you would like to clean up.

After selecting the drive, click OK.

Now Cleanup will begin. This could take a while, depending on when the last time you ran this program was.

Once it is done, Cleanup will show you how much memory it can free up. Select the files you want to delete and click OK.

Cleanup will now delete the selected files.

Disk Defragmenter

To start "Disk Defragmenter":

Open the "Start Menu"

Go to "All Programs"

Go to "Accessories"

Go to "System Tools"

When the menu opens, click on "Disk Defragmenter"

Once the window is open, click on "analyze"

This will analyze the selected drives and will tell you the degree of defragmentation.

After analysis is complete, click on "Defragment"

Once defragmention is complete, you can either view a report of it or exit the program.

Don't forget to run these two programs every once in a while as it greatly helps your computer's performance.

Hope this helps!