How to Clean a Hard Drive Safely

Clearing out old files and removing malicious software is the best way to clean up your hard drive.

Over the years, your computer acquires files and applications that get stuffed on to the hard drive. Your Internet browser will hang on to a cache of sites to help load pages faster, along with many temporary files. The influx of data and the shuffling of files (deleting, reinstalling) can leave the computer's hard drive acting very sluggish. Luckily, there are a few ways to safely clean out unnecessary files and bring your system back up to speed.

Things You'll Need

• Anti-virus software
• Anti-spyware software

Instructions

Clean Up the Hard Drive

1. Click the "Start" bottom in the lower-left corner of your screen. Select the "My Computer" folder. Right-click the "C:" drive and select "Properties."

2. Open the "General" tab and click "Disk Cleanup."

3. Select the C: drive from the drop-down menu and click "OK." Disk Cleanup will begin analyzing the drive, determining how much space it can free up.

4. Check off all the file types after the scan completes. The file type will be followed by the amount of space that will be gained by clearing out the unnecessary files. Click "OK" to delete the files.

Defragment the Hard Drive

1. Open the "My Computer" folder again. Right-click the "C:" drive and select "Properties."

2. Open the "Tools" tab and click "Defragment Now." The Disk Defragmenter will open.

3. Highlight the "C:" drive within the Disk Defragmenter window. Click "Defragment" to begin the process. It may take over an hour to complete.

Scan the Hard Drive for Malicious Software

1. Download and install anti-virus and anti-spyware applications. Some free anti-virus options include AVG Antivirus, Windows Security Essentials and Panda Security. Some trustworthy anti-spyware applications include Lavasoft Ad-aware, Windows Defender and SpyBot Search and Destroy.

2. Launch the anti-virus application. The application should automatically update to the latest virus definitions. To be sure, click "Update Now" from the main application window or the menu bar.

3. Select a "Full System Scan." Select the "C:" drive as the scan destination. Start the scan to detect any viruses, Trojans or worms.

4. Select "Remove All" when the scan completes and a list of detected threats is displayed.

5. Repeat these steps with the anti-spyware application. The process is nearly identical to scan for and remove spyware, adware and malware.

References

• Microsoft: Delete Files Using Disk Cleanup
• Microsoft: 5 Ways to Speed Up Your Computer
• Microsoft: Windows Defender

Resources

• University of Iowa: How to Defragment a Hard Drive
• The Elder Geek: Disk Cleanup Utility