“Oh my gosh! My hard drive is full and I am almost out of storage space!” This is one of those thoughts that kick me into “spring cleaning for my computer” mode. If you need room to download those wedding pictures or digital movie you filmed or you just need to clear out some of the clutter so that you can defragment (as explained in this article) I will show you three quick ways to clean up your hard drive some.
Delete anything you don’t need to save. This is sort of like throwing out old post-its, memos, images you don’t need and the like. It is amazing how much stuff can accumulate over the months or years. I always say if you aren’t sure if you will need it, save it.
If you have old programs you don’t use anymore, you can uninstall them.
1. You can do this by going to your “Start” menu.
2. Select your “Control Panel”
3. Double click on “Add or Remove Programs”
4. Look through the program list for the software you would like to remove. Just click the program and then click on the “Change/Remove” button.
(WARNING: You may see many programs you don’t recognize on the Add or Remove programs list. Be very careful what you remove. For your first time I would only suggest removing an old video game or software package you never ever use anymore. If you have a question about a certain program listed I would suggest talking to a tech savvy friend, use Google to search out the exact name or you can even post to our forums here.)
Another cleaning task you should do on a regular basis is deleting your temporary internet files or “deleting your cache”. When you surf the web, many pieces of the websites you visit are downloaded to your computer. So when you pull up that page again your computer can pull for example a large image file from your hard drive instead of re-downloading it from the website. This is also one of the first trouble shooting suggestions when something is being “weird” on your computer.
1. Open your internet browser, for this example I will use the browser most of you use, Internet Explorer.
2. Go to Tools > Internet Options
3. Click on the “Delete Files” button. Depending on your computer and how long it has been this may take a little while. Just let it work, the hour glass icon will turn back into an arrow when all the files are deleted.
Those three ways will help you clean up your hard drive some but it might not free up enough space. Stay tuned for my next article that will explain how to burn a data CD using your CD burner, a blank CD and Windows Explorer.