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Clean
out the Clutter
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by:
Lance
Chambers
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Like and home or office your
computer will end up with stuff all over the place, in places where it
should not be and unless you clean it up regularly it will just get
worse and worse until you (and your computer) simply cannot work any
long. If you want to know what I mean go into your kids bedroom and try
and do some work!!
It's not that you may be doing anything wrong or incorrectly and the
garbage won't cause any real problems with your computer - it can work
it's way around it all - just like your kids. But what it does do is
slow your computer down and the reductions in speed can be dramatic.
It takes longer for programs to start, files to open and be saved and can also slow down Windows startups.
This junk (which is what we're talking about) is usually made up of
temporary files that are created by Windows itself and most other
programs you may run (usually less than 10-20KB) and they end up all
over your hard drive. If your computer shuts down improperly, a program
crashes or you force it to quit then you will find that these temp
files will build up even faster.
The worst culprits are:
- Temp files are created by your day-to-day operations
on your computer and by the programs you run. These are not necessary
to the running of your machine and can be safetly deleted.
- Installing and uninstalling programs can create a
wealth of temp files. They are often removed on an uninstall but often
some files are left behind. These can also be removed with safety.
- Getting onto the net is another way of pickling up more temp files. The longer you spend online the more trash you'll collect.
- Windows itself can generate unneeded files.
Note: You should
clean out your temp files on a regular basis. If you don't as noted
above, your machine may slow down considerably over time.
As the tutorials progress I'll discuss and/or show you how to perform the necessary clean-ups.
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