Clear out old files to boost PC performance

Remember when your PC was new, started up like lightning and whizzed through tasks? We bet it wasn’t long before its energy started to wane. PCs get clogged up and weighed down by the digital flotsam and jetsam accumulated as applications are loaded, files created and sites visited.

Unneeded programs, wayward settings and even malicious code in the form of viruses and spyware build up like a spare tyre, leaving your PC tired and sluggish.

Some people opt to reinstall Windows but before you consider that, try our list of quick pick-me-ups for your PC.

First things first
Before starting any computer maintenance back up anything you don’t want to lose and set a System Restore point just in case things go horribly wrong.

To do this in Windows XP, click on Start, then Programs (or All Programs), then Accessories, then System Tools and finally on System Restore. From the System Restore screen, select the ‘Create a restore point’ on the right and click Next at the bottom right.

Now enter a name for the restore point and click Create. Once ‘Restore Point Created’ is displayed, click Close at the bottom right.

In Windows Vista, click Start and type System Restore in the search bar. Then click System Restore above and in the resultant window, click the Open System Protection link. On the next window that opens click the Create button to make a restore point. Name and save as with Windows XP.

Now, the plan is to speed up Windows by first removing unneeded programs and files that clog the hard disk and slow it down. Then we’ll ensure that no malicious applications are running and stop unwanted programs loading and hogging resources on Windows.

The need to clean
Unneeded programs litter a PC hard disk like boxes of rubbish in a garage. We need to throw out the unwanted clutter (the old programs and files), sweep up all the debris (the folders and files sometimes left after an application removal) and then tidy up what’s left using the defragmentation tool built into Windows.

There are two ways of achieving this goal: manually or with a specialist utility. You can use Ccleaner to clear out the junk ­ quicker, but doing things manually in Windows can be more thorough, so let’s start by looking at how to remove unwanted software.

In Windows XP, click Start, Settings and then Control Panel. Then click the Add or Remove Programs button. Start at the top of the list of programs, and work down. Select any unwanted program and click the grey Remove button on the right.

The equivalent tool in Windows Vista can be found by clicking on Start and then choosing Control Panel. From Control Panel choose ‘Uninstall a program’ under the Programs header. Again, select unwanted programs and click the Uninstall button in the header above to start the removal process.

Note that if you share the PC with others, removing an application from one User Account will remove it from all others.

Many programs request that you restart the PC to complete the removal process but if you have a few programs to remove, it’s usually fine to restart after all the programs you want to remove are dealt with.

With all relevant programs removed restart the computer. Now comes the slightly fiddly task of finding and removing the leftovers of that process.