Year-End Cleanup : 7.5 Ways to a Faster Computer

A tidy computer is a faster computer, both in terms of performance and the ease with which you can find things on it. Over the course of the year, we get a lot of clutter, bits and pieces of software and files we no longer need immediate access to. Here are seven (and a half) ways to get your (Windows) computer ready for the New Year.

1. Out with the old. If you have older documents, consider archiving them. There are a couple of ways to do this. An ideal solution is to back them up to an external device (or even website such as www.datadepositbox.com) and then remove them. If this isn’t something you can do, consider creating a folder under “My Documents” and call it “Archive”. Move anything in there you don’t need right now. It will be accessible when you do and out of the way in the meantime. Consider burning some files to CD or DVD.
2. Email archiving. If you’re an Outlook user, there is an “Archive” feature available. This will back up older messages and remove them from your most commonly used folders. You can run archiving by selecting File > Archive (here is a link to the Microsoft Outlook archive page). You can set up your archive folders and automatic archiving settings under Tools > Options (here’s Microsoft’s page on automatic archiving). You can set the location of your archive file manually .
3. Email attachments. If you don’t delete all your messages, consider removing those with attachments, especially if you copied the attached file to a folder on your drive. Do you really need two?
4. Disk Cleanup. This should be run at least quarterly, probably monthly. The Disk Cleanup utility is under your Accessories > System Tools folder. When you first run it, it can take many minutes to load, so don’t panic. What the utility does is provide you with a list of removable items such as old Internet temporary files (the kind that are downloaded when you access a website). The utility will also give you the option to compress old files, remove setup files and that sort of thing. Here’s a pretty good guide to Disk Cleanup.
5. Empty the Recycle Bin. Disk Cleanup will give you this option already. Please tell me you’re not using it to store old files…If you get low on disk space, Windows may automatically (and without prompting you) delete things in the Recycle Bin so don’t use it as an archive.
6. Compressing files. There are mixed views about compression vs performance, but Windows offers a file compressing utility that shrinks the space used by files and folders. To do this, right click on a folder, click Properties > Advanced. You will see the “Compress contents to save disk space” option. Compressing files can slow access to them, but if disk space is a premium, it’s worth considering.
7. Disk Defragmentation. Again, this utility can be found under your Accessories > System Tools folder. Run it after you’ve done all your other maintenance and try to ensure it’s the only program running. When you run it, select “Analyze“. The tool will check your hard drive to see if the data can be stored in a more optimal way. You can then run “Defragment” and it will take it from there. I suggest you let it run overnight because it will bog down your computer when running. Here is a link to Microsoft’s Disk Defragmentation page. They recommend doing it weekly.

7.5 Uninstalling software: Be careful! Checking to see what you’ve got installed is probably not a bad idea. We often accumulate bits and pieces of software we no longer use, but do be careful : you don’t want to uninstall something by mistake so if you decide to do this (using Control Panel), only do so if you know exactly what you’re doing, or with the help of a professional).

Links to other helpful articles would be much appreciated.

Happy New Year!