Hey guys,
Alright so this little tutorial, LOTS of people already know about this but some may not. Mainly is for people with older computers, but people with new computers that have cluttered their hard drives, yes, this is for you as well.
Alright so this little tutorial, LOTS of people already know about this but some may not. Mainly is for people with older computers, but people with new computers that have cluttered their hard drives, yes, this is for you as well.
Let's begin!
1. Disk Defragmenter
Go to "Start" --> "Configuration Panel" --> "System and Security" --> "Disk Defragmenter"
Note: Windows Vista and Windows 7 users can go to start and type "disk defragmenter". Click on the first result.
Windows XP users:
1. Locate Drive 'C' (Or whatever your main drive is. By default, it is C). Once located, click it ONCE.
2. Click 'Defragment'
3. Here you will see the progress of the defragmentation process.
First it will analyze your disk and then it will be 're-organized'
so your hard drive works optimally.
Red Outlines Are From Top To Bottom In Terms Of Order.
Windows Vista users:
1. Click '"Defragment Now".
2. Click "Defragment".
3. When defragmentation is done, click "Ok".
Windows 7 users:
Red Outlines Are From Left To Right In Terms Of Order.
1. Here you can see the hard drives connected to your computer.
Also USB sticks or external hard drives will appear here.
2. This shows when it was the last time you defragmented a disk.
If you've never used this, you will see 'never run' there.
3. When running, you will see the progress here.
4. If you don't know what I ment in step 1, 2 and 3
just select all drives and click 'defragment now'.
You can close the application when the process is complete.
2. Disk Cleanup
I won't show screenshots for each operating system (XP, Vista, and 7) individually, as the process is very similar for all of them.
This is what you do for XP:
Go to "Start" --> "Configuration Panel" --> "System and Security" --> "Disk Cleanup"
Note: Windows Vista and Windows 7 users can go to start and type "disk cleanup", click on the first result.
When this comes up. WAIT. Let it go. What it is doing is it's analyzing your files, and seeing what is possible to remove and cleanup. This is standard for all Operating Systems.
In the image above, you can see how many files/what amount of files the Disk Cleanup analyzer has calculated that you are able to remove.
The red box shows where those are located.
The green box, that is to the left of the red box, shows the boxes that you can check off. Select ALL of them except for Recycle Bin UNLESS you are 100% sure that everything in the Recycle bin can be deleted.
This will not remove any files that you need.
Disk clean up only cleans out temporary files and cookies for the most part. Wipes out history. Frees up space. It doesn't bother important files and programs though.
3. Remove Old Or Unused Programs
Go to "Start" --> "Configuration Panel" --> "Programs" --> "Remove Installed Programs"
Again,
This is similar on XP, Vista, and 7.
In Vista/7, it's not "Programs", it's "Programs and Features".
Not a big difference.
Here you have a list of all of the installed programs on your computer.
You can see when a program was installed, what the program is, what version it is, and most importantly, how much disk space it takes up.
Scroll through, and take a look at which programs you have never used, or which ones you use VERY rarely. Uninstalling these programs will give your hard drive some room to breathe, and therefore speeding up your computer.
Ofcourse, the process to uninstall is simply double click on the program you'd like uninstalled.
This tutorial was made by ME (Nick.) and anyone wants to repost it anywhere on any other forums please ask my permission before you do so.
I know that most of us, probably ALL of us here already know these methods, however, this is a forum that is growing fast, and there will be a few members who will come across this, and not know of a couple of the things you can do to sped up your computer.
Good luck and enjoy making your computer FASTER!!! 
