With the amount of information available for download on the internet, it’s easy to quickly fill up your valuable hard drive space and turn your computer into a sluggish, unresponsive monster.

Keeping your hard drive clean is essential to the high performance that the latest computers can achieve.

Fortunately, it’s a simple process; one that can easily be performed on a regular basis and, with some organization, keeps your computer running like a well-oiled machine.

You can discover how much hard drive space is available on your computer by accessing the DriveSpace program in your System Tools.

A pie graph will show you the amount of used and unused space for each of your drives.

Check this often to keep an idea of how much space you are using.

STEPS TO CLEARING UP YOUR HARD DRIVE

Uninstall unused programs

Many times a new program will come along that looks fun to have or play with, but after a week or two you simply stop using it.

Clean out temporary files

When your computer is not shut down properly, it will pass information from memory into fragmented files.

Also, while you are running programs, your computer will write information that it does not immediately need into temporary files

Empty your internet cache

As you surf the internet your computer stores web pages and images into a temporary internet cache so that it can quickly recall and access information when you move back and forth between pages.

Empty your mail programs of clutter

It’s easy to browse through your email and leave old messages there, promising yourself you’ll sort them out later.

One or two messages don’t take up much space, but hundreds certainly do

Empty your recycle bin

Once you’ve emptied your drive of cluttering, unnecessary programs; empty your recycle bin to remove what has been placed there in the process.

Scandisk and Defrag

When Windows installs programs, it will put the files it needs anywhere that it finds free space, and not directly after the last program installed.

As a result, your hard drive has patches of empty space on it that are not big enough to fit a full program, and will result in a drive space error if you attempt to install something new.

Do not let a lot of programs load up when you start your computer.

They use valuable memory and Windows Resources (Windows internal workspace). All programs in your Windows System Tray (in the lower left of your screen) are running on your computer.

Close them if you don’t need them or run them and configure them not to load when you boot up. Other programs running in the background can be found by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Delete at the same time.

Never turn your computer off with the power switch until Windows has shut down.

This rule prevents permanent Hard Disk (HD) defects caused by the hard drive heads contacting the surface of the drive disc and can also result in lost data or Windows files.

The one exception to this rule is when your computer locks up and HD is not running (HD light is not blinking).

Recover from crashes by pressing the Ctrl + Alt + Delete keys at the same time.

Press them again to reboot your computer

Use UPS (uninterruptable power supply) for your computer.

This will keep your computer from crashing during power outages, and will protect your computer from low and high voltage occurrences.

Run Scandisk and Defragment at least once a month to keep your HD healthy and prevent crashes.

Do use a virus checker regularly.

The best type of protection is continuous monitoring from a dedicated anti-virus program like Norton Antivirus.

If you have a high speed Internet connection you need a firewall program.

A firewall program keeps those who want to hijack your computer from gaining access to your system.

You really do not want someone else running your computer.

Keep track of the software disks you receive with your computer and new peripherals

These disks contain valuable software drivers and programs for Windows and are needed when Windows must be reloaded.

Keep these disks and your Windows software disks in a safe, dry, place — you never know when you will need them.

Spyware/Adware these are illegal programs which come onto your computer usually while browsing the internet.

This software will mostly slow your computer down and also some times report your actions and files to the programmer.

When a computer is infected with spyware/adware, it will become a little slower and you will be getting a lot of pop-ups while browsing the internet.

These pop-ups can be ads or false computer warning.

In order to remove spyware/adware you require some special removal software.

One example of this software is ad-aware by Lavasoft which can be downloaded for free from www.lavasoft.com.

Once you have downloaded and installed ad-aware you will see the following screen bellow.

Figure 1: Ad –Aware Software View

Click on start to scan the computer for Adware.

And select the default settings and click next. Once the scan is complete, you can see as shown in the picture bellow that your computer has 9 New Critical objects

Click next and select the objects you would like to remove (Usually just select all).

Figure 2: Show Completed Scanned Object

Please note that it is important you update you ad-aware program and before scanning for adware on you system.

In order to update your ad definitions click on the globe on the top right

Virus is illegal program designed to corrupt your computers files and there for eventually either slow or crash your system.

With the help of virus removal software such as Norton, AVG and MacAfee antivirus software you can mostly find and remove viruses from a machine.

AVG is free antivirus software.

It is important you make sure you update your antivirus software regularly to make sure your virus software is aware of the latest virus threats and there for can protect your computer from them.

In IFM we have been using Norton System works to protect our computers from viruses and maintaining our computer.

Click Start  All Programs  Norton System Works  Norton System Works

Figure 3: Norton System dialog box

Click Norton Antivirus  Scan for Viruses  Scan drives

Figure 4: Scan for Virus

Select the drives you would like to scan and click scan.

Figure 5: Selected Drives for Scanning

Once you have scanned follow the instructions, provided.

If you require more help you can always use Norton help.

Computer runs slower than usual

Computer no longer boots up

Screen sometimes flicker

PC speaker beeps periodically

System crashes for no reason

Files/directories sometimes disappear

Denial of Service (DoS)

Time Bomb

Logical Bomb

Worm

Boot Sector Virus

Macros Virus

Script Virus

Trojan Horse