Getting Along With Your Computer Column Archive

Spring Cleaning - Part 1

By Cate Eales
Appeared April 20, 2006 on castanet.net

Now that Spring is officially here (the first Yard Waste Pickup has come and gone) it's a good time to give your computer a cleaning, too. A good maintenance routine will keep your computer running more efficiently and longer, and will limit damage when and if bad things happen.

Since we're talking about maintenance here, rather than repair, I'm going to assume (and you know just how dangerous that can be!) that your computer is in reasonably good shape, and that you are running up-to-date anti-virus software, at least one anti-malware program, and that you have a firewall turned on. If not, please have a look at this column, and take the necessary steps.

That said, here is the first set of steps you can take to a happy, healthy computer. Next week we'll complete the task list. I hope you'll consider making these steps part of a regular weekly or monthly routine.


Disk Cleanup
Windows and many other programs leave a lot of temporary files scattered all over your hard disks. Good news: Windows also provides us some handy tools to clean up the mess. The first is the aptly named "Disk Cleanup" utility. To run this utility

Click Start | Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Disk Cleanup
Select the drive you want to clean
Click OK

Some time will pass while Windows analyses the situation. Then you'll see a list of things you can clean up. Review the choices and check (or clear the checks) according to your wishes. Disk Cleanup provides a brief description of each action when you highlight the item in the list. It's entirely up to you, but I don't recommend deleting Office setup files, as this seems to confuse Office Update.

When you're satisfied with your choices, click OK. It will take some time, but you're going to clear out a lot of space.


Email Cleanup
Whatever your email program, there's a good chance you've accumulated some messages you don't need any more. Have a look in your "Sent" box. Do you have messages in there from 1999? Some programs keep a copy of every message you send. That's a good idea…for awhile. But they can really build up if you don't get rid of them from time to time. Now is a great time! Drag them or otherwise place them into the Trash/Deleted Items Folder. Are there any other messages hanging around that you no longer need? Put them in there, too. Then have a look in the Trash/Deleted Items. Have you ever emptied it? Maybe it's emptied automagically when you close your email program, but don't count on it. Empty that folder now!

One more helpful task is to compact the mail. Different email programs go about this different ways. If you're using Outlook Express

Click on Tools | Options | Maintenance | Clean up now | Compact | Close | OK

That's enough for this week. Next week we'll look at the rest of the routine. And speaking of Spring Cleaning, if you go to the column archives on the Real Life Internet Solutions website (http://rlis.com/column.htm) you see that I've been doing a little organizing myself.

In the hope that it will be easier for you to find things, I've reorganized the page and added a little search tool that will help, I hope. At least I can find things now! If you have an opinion, don't hold back! Email me with your comments.


Links:
Free & Easy Ways to Secure Your Computer - http://rlis.com/columns/column2.htm
Get Cate's column by email - http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=20618
 

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Cate Eales has been helping people make online computing safe, accessible and fun for over 20 years. She lives in Kelowna with her husband, Eric, and her dog, Sandy. Cate is a partner in Real Life Internet Solutions, helping individuals and small businesses with virus, spyware and malware eradication; personal computer training and management; digital image management; music transfer; and website design, hosting and management. Email Cate at cate@rlis.com with your comments, suggestions, or questions. To browse the column archives, visit the Real Life Internet Solutions website at www.rlis.com.