Cleaning your Computer System.
When running Windows
operating systems, your hard disk drive does a substantial amount of work.
Depending on the amount of use and what tasks you performing on your computer,
you might be able to achieve better system performance.
This can be done by using some of the applications built in to Windows. A few
System Tools that are very helpful are ScanDisk, Disk Clean Up and Defragmenter
and we would suggest they are run in the following order.
1) ScanDisk will check your computer files and if it finds problems with the
file, it will attempt to repair the file. As well, this application can perform
read/write tests to your hard disk, to ensure the hard drive area is not damaged
and error free. By using ScanDisk, you will help to ensure that files do not
become corrupted.
2) Disk Defragmenter
is specifically designed for the Windows environment. What this program does is
sort the hard disk drive so that it is optimized for Windows. By optimizing the
hard disk drive, when you are running applications, the time for data transfer
between the hard drive and the RAM memory is lowered.
Data transfer between the hard drive and RAM is a major bottleneck in the
computer system. Optimizing the data retrieval will help to increase the
computer response time.
When running this application on your main hard disk drive, usually drive C, it
may not work as it should if the screen saver application is enabled. Try
running the Disk Defragmenter application first, and if it does not function as
it should, try turning the screen saver off.
To turn off the screen saver function, right click on the screen, and click on
properties when the pop-up menu appears. Click on the Display Properties Screen
Saver tab at the top and disable the screen saver.
3) The Disk Clean Up application, will help you to remove old, deleted and
unused files. This will help you maintain a cleaner hard disk drive, since
performance of the hard drive is affected by the amount of information contained
on it. Keeping the disk free of these files is a good practice to start.
In Summary
By running these
applications at least once a month will help ensure that you are doing your part
to keep your computer running as smoothly as possible. As well, these
applications are an important part of a maintenance plan for your computer.
