Running Windows Disk Cleanup gets rid of clutter

In the January 2008 issue I showed you how to defragment your computer’s hard drive, so why haven’t you done it yet?

This time, I’ll talk about getting rid of unwanted clutter with ‘Disk Cleanup’

In ‘Windows XP’™, click the ‘Start’ button at the bottom left of your screen. Now click on ‘All Programs’ and from there, move your cursor over ‘Accessories’ and then ‘System Tools’. Now click on ‘Disk Cleanup’.

After a few seconds, a little window pops up which tells you it’s calculating how much space could be freed up by the operation. This, in turn, is replaced by another window entitled ‘Disk Cleanup for (C:)’, containing a scrolling list of files which may be ticked, ready for removal.

Once the ‘OK’ button is clicked, the offending articles will be removed permanently; which is a bit of a worry in itself, isn’t it?

What if you delete something important?
What if you click that mouse and it all goes horribly wrong in an instant?

Since most people feel such trepidations when they try something like this for the first time, allow me to explain one fact to you before I continue.

Computers are like dogs; they can actually smell fear.
Panic for even so much as an instant, and the computer will drink all the beer in your fridge, kidnap your children and burn down your house… or worse!

Then again, probably not, eh?

The point I’m so laboriously trying to make, is that most users get a bit worried when they try to delete something they’re not sure about, and the computer asks: “Do you really want to do that? Are you absolutely sure? You don’t want to phone a friend, do you?”

Unlike its predecessors, Windows XP actually boasts an inbuilt ability to defend itself against users trying to push the self-destruct button by accident. Those files which are vital to your computer’s operation are safely tucked away where users don’t normally find them.

So, now that your fears about accidentally giving your machine a lobotomy are alleviated to some degree, let’s get back to the Disk Cleanup.

Under normal circumstances the files which produce the most clutter on your computer’s hard drive are: ‘Downloaded Program Files’ & ‘Temporary Internet Files’. The Disk Cleanup list also contains other file types, but the space taken up by these does not normally amount to very much.

Simply tick whichever files take up the most space and click ‘OK’. Job Done!

Oh, and don’t forget to defragment that hard drive.

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