Computersight -

So I decided to make a little bit of a tutorial for cleaning up your PC. It is quite simple, and should free alot of cyberspace, as well as making your computer faster

Warning: I’m afraid my computer is Norwegian, so the names of the tabs and optoins may not be excactly the same as my translation

Step 1: Download

Download CCleaner at http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/ and install it.

Download Defraggler at http://www.filehippo.com/download_defraggler/ and install it.

Download CleanUp! at http://www.stevengould.org/index.php?Itemid=69&id=15&option=com_content&task=view, and install it.

These files are about 1 MB each.

Optional: Download Ad-aware, then install it.

Step 2: Run CleanUp!

It has a simple interface, just click CleanUp. This will erase the log for Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer or Opera. The program is pretty much there for a quick deletion of your log and cookies (suggested to use it at work ).

Step 3: Run CCleaner.

This is a very useful program. The first tab of the four is the Cleaner one. There are two sub-tabs in it, called Windows and Programs.

For the Windows tab, select everything, except the advanced part, which is really not neccesary at the moment.

In the Programs tab, you might as well select everything that is there. If you want to keep the log, cache and others for your Web browser, deselect it, but the Download history option should be selected.

Click Analyze, and you will see how much spce you can free. If youre happy with that, go ahead and press Run CCleaner. This might take some time.

When it is done, go to the Register tab, number 2 of the 4 big tabs. Press Search -> Save a copy of the registery if youre sentimental -> Fix all. 

Now, go to the 3rd tab, Tools. 

All the three sub-tabs here are useful. In the first one you can uninstall programs that you dont need (you can also do this in the control panel, of course). In the second one, the Startup one, you can choose which programs that start when the computer starts. This could make your computer usable faster when you start it. It can be wise to deactivate the ones you use seldom. Maybe Skype, Msn, or the Sidebar? You should not turn off any update programs though.

Lastly, the system backup one. If you notice your harddisk is missing 10 GB of space and you cannot find out why, it is usually due to this. You can delete all but the last one, and unless you have some important, not backed up stuff, you should.

Step 4 (Optional): Ad-aware

If you installed Ad-aware, you can run a full scan now.

Step 5: Cleaning up the interface and start menu.

Do you have lots and lots of programs in the start menu, and you feel like you just dont need to see them?

To sort them out a little, right click the start button, and Explore. There are two options here. Explore, and Explore All Users. Go to both of them. The Two folders have different program folders. Dont worry about that.

The way I sorted it was to put all games I have in a Folder I created called “Games”. I had programs that are “Autoaccessed” put in a Folder named Auto-Access programs (meaning programs I never really click, programs that are opened automatically when I click a music file or document. I dont really need to find VLC media player, then press Open, THEN find the music file, when I can just find the music file, do I?) Then, while I was t it, I made one folder for programs used in school, and another for System Maintenance (Antivirus, CCleaner, CleanUp!, Ad-aware, Defraggler, etc.)

When you’re done with that, and youre happy, check your desktop. If youre not like me, your desktop is probably full of stuff, maybe documents or music files that you stopped using a year and a half ago. Just delete them all. They are just shortcuts (If you start to panic, and can’t find the Recycle bin for later, go to My Computer, and if you press the arrow right before My Computer in the top left corner, it should be there

Step 6: Run Defraggler

Defraggler is a defragmentation software, better than the Windows default one. Just start it, and press Defragment. This might take a long time, so take break

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Ok, you might want to restart your computer when you’re done. If you did this without making too many mistakes, and if youre never cleaned your PC up properly before, it should have freed at least 10-20 GB of space, and it should respond better. 

Tip: If you already miss being able to access the most used stuff from the desktop, you are allowed to put them out again. Just dont let it get too crowded Another option is to download Rocket Dock. It is a very fancy, highly customizable dock. Check it out if you are curious