Tips On Cleaning Up Your Computer

Tips on cleaning up your computer: How to clear out the Internet Files. First Now Now Now Now

Windows 98

right click on the Internet Explorer Icon, then click on properties. click on Delete cookies then OK. click on Delete files, now put a check in Delete all offline content. Now click OK. click on Clear History, then yes. click ok to close out the Internet Properties.

How to clear out the TEMP folder. Double left click on My Computer. Double left click on "C" drive. Double left click on the Windows folder. If the files are hidden click on Show Files. Double left click on the TEMP folder. Now go to Edit, then select all and click on the delete button on the main toolbar. You should not delete any files newer than 3 days. If you don't have a delete button on the toolbar then go to File and then Delete. Click on yes when asked if you want to send the items to the recycle bin. How to clear out the Applog folder. Double left click My Computer. Double left click on "C" drive. Double left click on the Windows folder. Go to "View", then "Folder Options". Select "Show all files" under the Hidden Files" list. Click on OK. Now click on the "Show Files" in the "Windows" box. Double Left click on Applog Folder. Now click on Edit, then Select all. Now click on delete or go to "File" then Delete. You may want to undo the "Show all Files" now. Just follow the same steps as above except choose "Do not show hidden or systems files" then OK. I would do this about once a month. Be sure to run Scandisk and Defrag REGULARLY ! Run ScanDisk First. Err Msg: ScanDisk Has Restarted 10 Times Because Windows... ScanDisk has restarted 10 times because Windows or another program has been writing to this drive. Quitting some running programs may enable ScanDisk to finish sooner. Do you want to continue receiving this warning? CAUSE This problem can occur: If Windows or another program writes to the hard disk while ScanDisk is scanning that disk. If you have many items on the Quick Launch toolbar (which appears to the right of the Start button). If an item on the Quick Launch toolbar periodically writes to the hard disk while ScanDisk runs. NOTE: This can occur when an antivirus program is running or when a Microsoft Word document is open and the Autosave feature is active. RESOLUTION To resolve this problem, try the following methods. After you use each method, run ScanDisk to see if the problem is resolved. If the problem still occurs, continue to the next method. Turn Off the Quick Launch Toolbar While You Run ScanDisk. To do this, follow these steps: Right-click a blank area of the taskbar. On the shortcut menu that appears, point to Toolbars, and then click Quick Launch. NOTE: A check mark appears next to Quick Launch. When you click Quick Launch, the check mark disappears. The Quick Launch toolbar is disabled. After you run ScanDisk, follow steps 1 and 2 to again enable the toolbar. Remove Items from the Quick Launch Toolbar You can do this to help determine if an item is causing ScanDisk to

restart. To remove an item from the Quick Launch toolbar, follow these steps: Right-click the item that you want to remove. On the shortcut menu that appears, click Delete. On the Confirm File Delete message that appears, click Yes. NOTE: When you remove an item from the Quick Launch toolbar, you do not delete the program file, you delete only a shortcut to that file. To restore a shortcut to the Quick Launch toolbar, drag it to a blank area of the Quick Launch toolbar. Quit All Running Programs To quit all programs that are currently running, follow these steps: Press CTRL + ALT + DELETE. In the Close Program dialog box, click any program in the list, except Explorer or Systray, and then click End Task. If you are prompted to click End Task again, do so. NOTE: Explorer and Systray are Windows components that Windows requires to function properly. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for each program that is listed in the Close Program dialog box, except Explorer and Systray. Follow these steps to set the screen saver to None: Right-click the desktop, and then click Properties. Click the Screen Saver tab. In the Screen Saver box, click None. Click OK. If the AutoUpdate "Update Reminder" is running in the system tray, it may also interfere with Scandisk. You can remove the AutoUpdate notification by clicking the Update Reminder icon and then either installing the recommended updates or clicking Remind Me Later. After you quit all running programs, try running ScanDisk again. Restart in Safe Mode Windows Me or Windows 98 To start your computer in Safe mode, restart your computer, press and hold down the CTRL key after your computer completes the Power On Self Test (POST), and then choose Safe Mode from the Startup menu. NOTE: If you press and hold down the CTRL key when your computer starts, you may receive a keyboard error message. If this occurs, you can safely ignore the keyboard error message. After you restart the computer in Safe mode, try running ScanDisk again. Windows 95 To restart your computer in Safe mode, click Start, click Shut Down, click Restart The Computer, and then click Yes. When you see the "Starting Windows 95" message, press the F8 key.After you restart the computer in Safe mode, try running ScanDisk again. Windows 98 or Windows 95 To restart to a command prompt and run ScanDisk in real mode, follow these steps: Click Start, click Shut Down, click Restart the computer in MS-DOS mode, and then click Yes or OK. At the command prompt, type scandisk, and then press ENTER. The first time this error message occurs, you have the option to continue to receive the warning message or to suppress the error message in the future. You can also click Cancel. If you click Yes to continue receiving the error message, the message is displayed again if ScanDisk is unable to complete a disk scan after 10 passes. However, if you click No, ScanDisk continues to run until it either finishes or is canceled. Also be sure to empty the Recycle Bin ! Tips on cleaning up your computer: How to clear out the Internet Files. First Now Now Now Now

Windows 2000

right click on the Internet Explorer Icon, then click on properties. click on Delete cookies then OK. click on Delete files, now put a check in Delete all offline content. Now click OK. click on Clear History, then yes. click ok to close out the Internet Properties.

How to clear out the TEMP folder. Double left click on My Computer. Double left click on "C" drive. Double left click on the Winnt folder. If the files are hidden click on Show Files. Double left click on the TEMP folder. Now go to Edit, then select all and click on the delete button on the main toolbar. You should not delete any files newer than 3 days. If you don't have a delete button on the toolbar then go to File and then Delete. Click on yes when asked if you want to send the items to the recycle bin. Be sure to run Scandisk and Defrag REGULARLY ! To run a ScanDisk on W2k....

Run ScanDisk First.

Double left click on My Computer. Right click on "C" Drive. Click Properties. Click Tools. Click on Check Now … under Error-checking Click Start. If you want to do a more in-depth error checking there are 2 other options available: First option is to Automatically fix file system errors (choosing this option will require a restart of the computer to run). When choosing this option you will see a box pop up that says, "The check disk could not be preformed because exclusive access to the drive could not be obtained. Do you want to schedule this disk check to occur next time you restart the computer?" When prompted for this you would choose Yes if you want it to run on the next reboot of the system.The second option for error checking is Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors (this will not require a restart of the system) Also be sure to empty the Recycle Bin ! Tips on cleaning up your computer: How to cut off the System Restore.

Windows Xp

Right click My Computer. Click on Properties. Click on System Restore Tab. Put a check beside of Turn off System Restore. Click Apply and OK. How to clear out the Internet Files. First Now Now Now Now

right click on the Internet Explorer Icon, then click on properties. click on Delete cookies then OK. click on Delete files, now put a check in Delete all offline content. Now click OK. click on Clear History, then yes. click ok to close out the Internet Properties.

How to clear out the TEMP folder. Double left click on My Computer. Double left click on "C" drive. Now go to "tools" and select Folder options. Now click on View and select "show hidden files and folders" under the folder Hidden Files and Folders. Click apply and then OK. Double left click on the Documents and Settings folder. Double left click on the main User's Folder. (example: John Doe) Double left click on the Local Settings folder. Double left click on the TEMP folder. Now go to Edit, then select all and click on the delete button on the main toolbar. You should not delete any files newer than 3 days. If you don't have a delete button on the toolbar then go to File and then Delete.

Click on yes when asked if you want to send the items to the recycle bin. How to clear out the Prefetch Folder. Double left click My Computer. Double left click on "C" drive. Double left click on the Windows folder. Double left click on the Prefetch folder. Now click on Edit, then Select all. Now click on delete or go to "File" then Delete. I would do this about once a month. Be sure to run Scandisk and Defrag REGULARLY ! To run a ScanDisk on XP....

Run Scandisk First.

Double left Click My Computer. Right click on "C" Drive. Click Properties. Click Tools. To do a Scandisk Click check now. Put a check in both boxes "Automatically Fix File System Errors" and "Scan for and attempt Recovery of Bad Sectors". Then click Start. Now when asked "Do you want to Schedule this Disk Check to occur the next time you Restart the Computer", Click Yes. Now Restart your Computer. Also be sure to empty the Recycle Bin ! Defrag Double left Click My Computer. Right click on "C" Drive. Click Properties. Click Tools. Click on Defragment Now Click on Defragment After Following All the Above, Turn System Restore Back On. Right click My Computer. Click on Properties. Click on System Restore Tab. Remove the check beside of Turn off System Restore. Click Apply and OK. Tips on cleaning up your computer:

Remove Adware & Spyware

Spyware is software that sends information from the user's computer without their knowledge whenever the computer connects to the Internet. Usually the information sent is benign in nature, mostly concerned with general marketing information (ie., spending habits) rather than specific information like credit card numbers, although some programs are capable of retrieving specific information as well. The problem with Spyware lies in the fact that this information is transmitted without informed consent. Additionally, Spyware programs are sometimes poorly written, containing bugs and causing the computer to malfunction. Spyware does not respect your privacy. If you are bothered with this, then removing adware from your computer might be a consideration. Click HERE to be taken to the Link. Auto Delete Temporary Folder (XP Pro) First go to Start, then run and type in gpedit.msc Next select -> Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Terminal Services/Temporary Folder. Then right click "Do Not Delete Temp Folder Upon Exit" Go to properties and hit disable. Now next time Windows puts a temp file in that folder it will automatically delete it when its done! Remember, GPEDIT (Group Policy Editor) is

only available in XP Pro. How to remove all the System Restore points except the recent one? All the System Restore points can be cleared by disabling and enabling the System Restore option. However, Windows XP provides an option to clear all the System Restore points except the very recently created point. This can be accomplished through the Disk Cleanup Utility in XP. Click Start, Run and type CLEANMGR and press Enter. Select the hard disk partition and press OK. At the top of the dialog, click the tab More Options. Under System Restore section, click the button "Clean up..." Now, all the System Restore points (except the recent one) are cleared and more hard disk space will be free. Remove Deleted Programs from the Uninstall List If you deleted a program instead of uninstalling it, most likely the program will still be listed in the windows uninstall list. Follow the directions below to remove programs from list manually. 1. Click on Start then Run and type regedit. 2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall. 3. Delete the folder of the program. Also See "How to Manually Remove Programs from the Add or Remove Programs Tool" A Better Windows XP Disk Cleanup Tool These instructions will show you how to create an unattended disk cleanup which will also empty your prefetch folder providing Windows XP is installed in c:\windows. 1. Create a new text file and place the following contents inside: c:\windows\system32\cleanmgr.exe /dc /sageset: 1 c: cd \ cd c:\windows\prefetch del *.* /q 2. Save the file, changing the extension from .txt to .bat Now name it diskclean.bat 3. Execute the file. This will run the Disk Cleanup program in a special mode which asks what items you will want cleaned when Disk Cleanup performs an unattended cleanup. Check the items you wish to have cleaned up, then click OK. 4. Right-click on the diskclean.bat file and click edit. Change the first line to read: c:\windows\system32\cleanmgr.exe /dc /sagerun: 1 5. Save the file. You can execute this file in place of running Disk Cleanup, or, to have this program run unattended, run the Add Scheduled Task Wizard in the Control Panel and create a scheduled task using the clean.bat file you just created. To download one already made click HERE. Save to your Desktop and then follow the instructions at #3.