Best Computer Clean Up Tips

• Clean up your documents. Go through your document folders and look for files you no longer need, then delete them. If you don't feel comfortable with this, then buy an portable external hard drive and backup your files to that drive for safe keeping, then delete them from your computer. I use and like these brands of external drives:
  • Western Digital My Passport Essential SE 1 TB USB 3.0/2.0 Ultra Portable External Hard Drive (Metallic Blue)
  • Buffalo Technology MiniStation Stealth 1 TB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive HD-PCT1TU2/BB (Black)
  • Hewlett Packard HP Portable 1 TB USB 3.0/2.0 External Hard Drive
    
    
• Clean up your temp files folder. In Windows XP, go to C:\windows\temp and delete all the files in that folder. Note: You may find that some files won’t delete, just ignore them and leave them there. (It’s because the system is using them at that moment).
  
  
• Clean up your temporary internet files. You can do this easily in whatever browser you are using.

  In Internet Explorer, go to Tools menu, Internet Options, Browsing history and click the Delete button. Place a check in the box next to Temporary Internet Files. Uncheck the other boxes unless you mean to delete that info as well. Then click Delete.

  You can also set Internet Explorer to delete Temporary Files automatically. To do this, to to Tools, Internet Options, Advanced tab. Scroll down to the Security section, and put a check next to the option that says “Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed”. Voila, you never have to manually clean it again! To do this easily, you can either download my favorite program for cleaning, CCleaner. If you are not an experienced Windows user, consider reading the online tutorial before you use the program.

  Or you can run the built-in Windows Disk Cleanup tool for XP or the Disk Cleanup for Windows 7.

• Clean out your email, especially your Inbox and Sent box. The easiest way to do this is to sort your email box by size of the message, and delete the largest unneeded emails first. This is only important if you download your email to an email client like Outlook or Outlook Express on your computer. If you read your email on the internet, using Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail, there is no need to do the email computer clean up tip since that mail is stored on the host's (google or yahoo) machines, not yours. You can clean up anyway if you want to keep your mail box organized and easier to use.
• Clean and organize your computer hard drive. All of your working files should be stored in folders under the My Documents folder in Windows XP, and under the Document Library in Windows 7. It makes them easy to find, to backup and helps your computer run efficiently.
• Uninstall unneeded software programs: For example, if you aren't using a Kodak camera any more, uninstall that Kodak picture software. Be careful here.. don't go crazy, there may be some programs installed that you don't recognize, but that your computer needs. So be careful about what you choose to uninstall.
  • To do this in Windows XP: Go to Start, Control Panel, Add and Remove Programs
  • To do this in Windows 7, go to Start, Control Panel, Programs, Uninstall a Program
• Uninstall unused printers. You can uninstall printers by installing the drivers in Programs using the tip above. Then, if the printer still shows in the Printer listings under Start, Printers (or Devices and Printers in Windows 7), right click on the printer you want to uninstall, and choose Delete.

That's my computer clean up list. It's a good idea to do these computer clean up steps at least once a month.

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