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Disk Cleanup is a computer maintenance application included in Microsoft Windows operating systems.  It’s designed to free up disk space on your computers hard drive.  Therefore, it’s worth performing a cleanup every so often.  The feature searches and reviews your hard drive for files which are no longer necessary.  It will then, after you’ve made some selections, remove any files that are not needed on your machine.

Here is how to run a Disk Cleanup on XP:

1. Firstly click ‘Start’ and select ‘All Programs’
   
2. Then Select ‘Accessories’, followed by ‘System Tools’ and finally ‘Disk Cleanup’ (Click on image to enlarge)
   
3. Your computer will now run a scan to locate files that could be removed or compressed.
   
4. Next you should make selections regarding which files you would like to be removed.  Simply click on the option, read the description and if you’d like this to be removed click in the box next to the option so it has a tick in it.   We recommend that you don’t select to compress files as it will slow down your computer considerably (Click on image to enlarge)
   
5. Your computer will now perform the Disk Cleanup.
   

Hopefully this tutorial has been helpful and will encourage you to run a Disk Cleanup.  It’s a free way to improve the speed of your computer!

We will post about Disk Cleanup on Vista next week!

See Also:
Defrag for XP
ScanDisk for XP

This tutorial will show you how to run a ScanDisk on your Vista PC.

What is a ScanDisk?

ScanDisk, also known as ‘Error Checking’ simply scans the file system and repairs any errors or bad clusters.  This just helps keep your computer running smoothly and hopefully quickly, so its worth doing.  How often depends on how much you use your machine, every three months for the home user should be fine.  Busy home machines or business machines I would say monthly ideally.

How to run a ScanDisk

1. Firstly, close all programs.
2. Click on the Start Orb.
   
3. Select ‘Computer’
   
4. Right-Click on the drive which has the Label ‘(C:)’ and then select ‘Properties’.
   
5. Select the ‘Tools’ tab and then ‘Check Now’ (Click to Enlarge Image)
   
6. Ensure that both boxes are ticked, then click ‘Start’.
   
7. Click ‘Schedule Disk Scan’ and then restart your machine.
   

Any questions?

This blog will show you how to run a ScanDisk on your computer.

What is a ScanDisk?
ScanDisk, also known as Error Checking, simply scans the file system and repairs any errors or bad clusters.

First of all, click ‘Start’ and then ‘My Computer’.

Then right-click on ‘Local Disk’ (C:) – Your drive maybe called something other than ‘local disk’ but it will be label (C:).

Select ‘Properties’

Then select the ‘Tools’ tab.

Click ‘Check Now’.

Click both the boxes so that there are ticks. Then click ‘start’.

Read the message below and then click ‘YES’.

Click ‘OK’

Now you must restart your computer. First of all close all programs. To close your computer click ‘Start’ and then ‘Turn Off Computer’.

Then Select ‘Restart’.

Once you have restarted your computer a screen will appear telling you that the Error Checking process is running. Afterwards your computer will turn on as normal.

If you have any comments let us know!