How to Clean and Restore a System
Like all other tools and equipment we deal with on a daily basis, from cars and houses to appliances, computers require routine maintenance and cleaning to keep them running optimally. While is certainly recommendable to keep your computer free of dust, it is the internal cleaning and maintenance that will make your computer run faster.
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Instructions
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Clean up your desktop. While shortcuts are small enough not to effect speed, storing files, downloads and actual programs on your desktop will reduce your computer's speed because they must be loaded into your memory. It is best to store these files in the appropriate folders on your hard drive. Programs should be stored in the program or application folders and files can be neatly organized in My Documents or other folders.
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Run the Disk Cleanup Program. This tool helps you identify unnecessary files, including temporary Internet files and program files and allows you to remove them to free up hard drive space. Even if you aren't using these programs or files, they take up space on your hard drive. When your computer runs low on available hard drive space everything is slowed down. Ideally you should make sure at least one-third of your hard drive is unused at any given time. As program files tend to be quite large, removing those you no longer use will free up a big chunk of space.
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Run an anti-virus and anti-spyware program. Removing these files may only free up a small amount of hard drive space, but it will remove any malicious software, which may also be slowing your computer down. Look for one program that can remove viruses, Trojans, spyware and other types of malware.
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Defragment your hard drives. When files are written to a hard drive, often times pieces of the disk are not used, creating gaps. These fragments slow down the overall performance of your computer. It is important to run the disk defragmenter tool regularly, such as weekly, for best results. If you save a large number of files to your computer, such as photos from a digital camera, you should also defrag immediately after that. When you're running low on hard drive space, you should also use the tool to try and free up some extra space.
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Repair any disk errors. Over time hard drives can develop bad sectors, which are areas on the drive that cannot be used properly. These bad sectors will slow down your hard drive and can make writing to the disk difficult. Use the Error Checking utility to scan the hard drive for bad sectors. The tool also scans file systems for errors and cleans them up. This tool should also be used weekly to reduce the risk of data loss.
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References
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