What to do when:Your computer is slow.

Sometimes your computer seems a little sluggish. There are a few things you can do to speed up your system.

• Try all or one of the following:
• Remove temporary files on your computer
• Disk defrag
• Remove unused programs

Remove temporary files on your computer

A temporary file is a file that is created to temporarily store information in order to free memory for other purposes, or to act as a safety net to prevent data loss when a program performs certain functions.

Ever notice that when you open an e-mail attachment, and click Save As on the File menu, that you have several other documents appearing in a file beginning OLK…? It seems that every time an attachment is opened, it is automatically saved to this file, whether you manually save it or not. This can also create problems if you just click the save button and try to get back to these files later; you won’t know where to find them.

If you don’t know how to get rid of these files, a tip will be created soon on how to do this.

Disk defrag
Disk Defragmenter is a system utility for analyzing local volumes and locating and consolidating fragmented files and folders.

Analysis and defragmentation displays and reports

After you analyze or defragment a volume, you can view the results in colored horizontal bar graphs called the Analysis display and the Defragmentation display. (see below)

 

A box will pop up telling you whether your computer needs to be defraged or not. The color bars help you to see how your files are stored. If there is a log of Red, then it would be a good idea to defrag your computer. Hit the Defragment button to start the process. (see chart below)

Color Description

Red: Most of the clusters are part of a fragmented file.

Blue: Most of the clusters are contiguous files with clusters in the group that
contain only free space and contiguous clusters.

Green: Most of the clusters are part of a file that cannot be moved from its current location.

White: Most of the clusters are free space and contiguous clusters.

Remove unused programs
You may have programs on your computer that you never use. For this reason you should remove them. Programs take up space on your computer.

To remove programs you don’t use or need anymore do the following:

• Go to the Control panel by clicking Start, Settings, Control Panel.
• Double click on Add or Remove Programs.

• From the programs listed, select the program you want to remove and click the Change/Remove or Remove button. Follow the steps on the screen to completely remove the program. Do the same for any other program you want to remove. You will notice that the program also displays how often you use a particular program.
• Note: don’t remove anything labeled “Update” or “Hotfix”. These improve the security of your computer.
• You may have to restart your computer to complete the process.

Disk cleanup
Disk cleanup calculates how much space you can save on your C: drive and allows you to delete items that can save you space.

Disk cleanup checks how much space you can save from some of the following files: downloaded programs, temporary internet files, office setup files, recycle bin, etc. This will free up space that can be used by other programs.

To use disk cleanup, do the following:

• Click Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and select Disk Cleanup.
• Disk cleanup will check to see how much space you can save.
• The disk cleanup box will appear showing you how much space you can save.
• You can select and deselect items you do and don’t want removed.
• Click OK.

 

 

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