[Murphturf]

Whats a good way(hopefully simple) to free up space on my hard drive? I am willing to delete just about anything to gain performance. I have about 500 photos that I'm thinking take up space and I plan on starting there. Any other suggestions?

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First, delete all temporary files.

• Download and install CCleaner
• After installing, run CCleaner
• Select 'Cleaner' on the left and be sure that all boxes (that are checkable) are checked.
• Click 'Analyze'
• Click 'Run Cleaner'
• Exit CCleaner

Secondly run a disk cleanup tool.

• Select 'Start'
• Select 'All Programs', then select 'Accessories', then select 'System Tools'
• Select 'Disk Cleanup'
• Select your primary hard drive from the drop down list, and hit 'Ok'

Thirdly, de-fragment your hard drive.

• Select 'Start'
• Select 'All Programs', then select 'Accessories', then select 'System Tools'
• Select 'Disk Defragmenter'
• Select your primary hard drive and click 'Analyze'
• This will tell you how much space can be opened up by defragmenting.
• Select 'Defragment' (This will take quite a while, especially higher for the more data on your hard drive.

These simple steps are basic for maintenance for your computer and should be done frequently, and if they haven't been done in a while than you could potentially free up a lot of space. After this, just delete unnecessary files and uninstall programs you don't use anymore.

If you are looking for a bigger performance upgrade, one of the best things you can do is upgrading your memory. The Windows XP minimum requirement is 512MB and Vista is 1GB, which those minimums don't really give you "performance" per say. I think ideally you would want 2-3GB of memory, depending on what your system's maximum is.

Edited by sync0s, 12 February 2009 - 02:38 AM.

[sync0s]

First, delete all temporary files.

• Download and install CCleaner
• After installing, run CCleaner
• Select 'Cleaner' on the left and be sure that all boxes (that are checkable) are checked.
• Click 'Analyze'
• Click 'Run Cleaner'
• Exit CCleaner

Secondly run a disk cleanup tool.

• Select 'Start'
• Select 'All Programs', then select 'Accessories', then select 'System Tools'
• Select 'Disk Cleanup'
• Select your primary hard drive from the drop down list, and hit 'Ok'

Thirdly, de-fragment your hard drive.

• Select 'Start'
• Select 'All Programs', then select 'Accessories', then select 'System Tools'
• Select 'Disk Defragmenter'
• Select your primary hard drive and click 'Analyze'
• This will tell you how much space can be opened up by defragmenting.
• Select 'Defragment' (This will take quite a while, especially higher for the more data on your hard drive.

These simple steps are basic for maintenance for your computer and should be done frequently, and if they haven't been done in a while than you could potentially free up a lot of space. After this, just delete unnecessary files and uninstall programs you don't use anymore.

If you are looking for a bigger performance upgrade, one of the best things you can do is upgrading your memory. The Windows XP minimum requirement is 512MB and Vista is 1GB, which those minimums don't really give you "performance" per say. I think ideally you would want 2-3GB of memory, depending on what your system's maximum is.

Edited by sync0s, 12 February 2009 - 02:38 AM.

[Anthony19]

Hello Murphturf

Just adding to sync0s quiet detailed response , and i agree with sync0s , you are looking for a greater amount of RAM ( random access memory )

i would recommend using ATF cleaner , it overlaps CCleaner , but is a very useful and easy to use cleaner

ATF can be found here: http://www.geekstogo...ner-file21.html

Good luck , hope all goes well for you

Antony19

PS: i would not recommend deleting photo's ( they are irreplaceable, and invaluable ) , Programs etc etc on the computer can be replaced... (system or windows files are not replaced as easily though , and may lose data from the result of windows not being able to load correctly )

Providing you have your photo's backed up it shouldn't hurt , although i cannot see it being the problem in the first place.... ( 500 is not a great deal... but then depends on the size of the file's) eg: 1 MB ( 1 photo ) x500 = 500MB = .5 of a GB ( Half of a gigabyte) , how big is your hard drive ???

[Murphturf]

Thanks a lot for your suggestions. I actually do already use CCleaner quite often. I have defragged before but not for quite a while so I will do that again. I actually didnt know if it was doing anything it took so long. Apparently I'm down to 9% capacity to full and I only have a 80GB drive. Can I back up my photos to a disk then erase them? I did'nt think we really had that much stuff on this thing but maybe I 'll have to get rid of some programs, games, ect.

By the way I did upgrade RAM a whle ago I have 1280MB currently. I know this is an older computer(DELL Dimension 3000) I was just hoping to keep it running fairly good for the kids.

Thanks again for your help and feel free to add more suggestions.

[Anthony19]

Hello Murphturf

Do the kids play alot of High Graphical games or Video Editing etc etc ???

You may need more RAM for game's and video's that is going to put alot of load on the computer and require a great amount of RAM...

Anthony19

Editied:
Quote: Can I back up my photos to a disk then erase them , i would recommend an External Storage of some kind ( although cd/dvd is an option ) I would recommend using a USB storage device or an External Harddrive

Easy and "User friendly " option , end choice is up to you

Good luck!
&
Happy Computing

PS: if you do not have USB storage or External Harddrive , i guess cd/dvd will do the trick for you

Edited by Anthony19, 13 February 2009 - 03:19 AM.