|
Maintaining Windows: How to defragment your hard drive
Because Windows uses a registry (unlike Mac),
it degrades in performance over time. To help keep your computer running
as well as possible (e.g. as few crashes as possible and keep the
hard drive working as efficiently and therefore fast as it can), regular
maintenance in necessary. For Windows 95, 98, ME,*
2000, or XP, this means running
one or more of the following:
1) Disk Cleanup,
2) ScanDisk, and then
3) Disk Defragmenter once a month.
You can find these in: Start
> Programs > Accessories
> System Tools.
These can be done automatically by using the
Maintenance Wizard. To do this, go to Start >
Programs > Accessories >
System Tools > Maintenance Wizard.
When you choose the schedule, you should first do it when you can
be there to make sure it does it OK--sometimes the defrag program
will keep resetting itself it you have another program running.
After that, you can schedule it to go it at night (you can leave
the computer on all night).
I usually don't bother with Disk Cleanup
myself, as it tends to just bog down the computer for a while and
doesn't seem to come up with many files to delete. Some versions
of Windows, such as XP, don't have the Scandisk
feature.
Clearing your Internet browser cache
While you are at it, you might clear your Internet
browser cache. When it gets full it can also slow down the performance
of your computer when you are on the Internet. To do so, in Internet
Explorer find the Internet Options, probably under
Tools. In the General Tab, under
Temporary Internet Files, Click on Delete
Files. I delete all offline content while I'm there.
* Note:
If you are using Windows ME, back up everything as soon as possible
and replace ME with XP. Windows ME is the worst operating system
Microsoft has produced and causes much lost time and frustration.
|
