Clear out old files to boost PC performance

Cleaning up
To remove any leftovers from old programs in Windows XP, first open My Computer. Now from the top bar menu select Tools and then choose Folder Options and then from the menu choose the tab labelled View.

Scroll down the list and ensure that ‘Show hidden files and folders’ is selected. Click Apply and then ‘OK’. In Vista, click the Start button and choose Control Panel. Click the ‘Classic View’ link on the left and then choose the Folder Options icon.

From the Folder Options window, click the View tab and click the ‘Show Hidden files and folders’ option under ‘Hidden files and folders’. Click Apply and then OK.

If your computer is shared, it’s worth changing the hidden files and folders option back when finished to stop anyone inadvertently removing needed files and folders.

With all files and folders now visible, browse from the C: drive in My Computer (called ‘Computer’ in Vista) then to the Program Files folder and delete any leftover folders from the programs you just removed.

As before, only delete folders if you are sure they are unneeded – if there is any doubt, leave them be. Now, go to the Desktop and right-click on the Recycle Bin icon, choose Empty Recycle Bin and restart the computer.

Now let’s turn to unneeded files that accumulate as we surf the internet. In Internet Explorer 7, click the Tools button on the right, followed by Internet Options at the bottom of the menu.

From the General tab click the Delete button underneath the Browsing history header. In the resultant window, click the top ‘Delete Files...’ button under Temporary Internet Files.

In Firefox 3, click Tools from the menu bar and then Options. In the Options window, click the Privacy button and then click the Settings button under Private Data. In the Clear Private Data window, ensure Cache and ‘Offline Web Site Data’ are selected and click OK.

Disk Cleanup is a Windows tool that can identify and remove unwanted files. It’s particularly useful for safely removing temporary Windows files. In XP, click Start and then navigate to Programs, then Accessories, then System Tools and then click on Disk Cleanup.

Disk Cleanup will now calculate which files left on the hard disk can be removed. Once Disk Cleanup has analysed what can go, on the Disk Cleanup Window, tick the option for ‘Temporary files’ and click OK.

To launch Disk Cleaner in Vista, click Start and type ‘clean’. Click the link when it appears above. When the Disk Cleaning Options window appears, select ‘Files from all users on this computer’. Now select ‘Temporary files’ from the list and click OK.