Task
Card for Computer Cleanup
Step-by-Step
Instructions for
Windows
XP
(Rev.
Creating
Icons for Disk Cleanup and Defragmenter
Begin by
clicking the “Start” button in the lower-right corner.
Then
click “All Programs” highlighted in red.
Next,
click “Accessories”, highlighted.
Click
“System Tools”, highlighted.
Right-Click on “Disk
Cleanup”, then click on “Send To” and finally on “Desktop (create shortcut)”.
Repeat
this for “Disk Defragmenter”. All highlighted.
Go back
to the desktop. Locate the two new shortcuts for Disk Cleanup and Disk
Defragmenter.
On an
empty area of the desktop, perform a Right-Click. Next,
Left-Click on “New” and then “Folder”. All highlighted.
Rename
the folder “Cleanup”. Do this by clicking slowly two times to activate the
naming process.
Once
“Cleanup” is typed in, hit Enter on the keyboard.
Next,
drag the two shortcut icons into the “Cleanup” folder.
Do this
by dragging each one with the mouse until the icon hovers over the folder.
The
folder will highlight, and then you can drop the icon into the folder.
Disk
Cleanup
Double-click
the Disk Cleanup icon. It will begin by calculating how much to clean.
This can
take a while depending on how much cleanup needs to be done.
Don’t hit
“Cancel” unless you intend to run it later.
Once
loaded, check the boxes to get rid of all unnecessary files.
The only box to
leave unchecked is Microsoft
Office files
Then
click “OK” to start the cleanup process.
The
program may prompt you to make sure you really want to do this.
Simply
click “Yes” to continue.
Wait
patiently for this to finish.
This may take
anywhere from a few minutes to a half hour depending on the amount of files
being deleted.
This program will close itself when finished.
That’s
it, Disk Cleanup is completed!
Disk
Defragmenter
Once the
program is open, you have two options.
The first
option is to “Analyze” the disk to check the amount of fragmentation on the
disk.
RED sections are bad. BLUE and GREEN
files are fine. The less RED sections the
better.
The
second option is to “Defragment” right away.
This will
first analyze the disk, and then proceed to defragment
on its own.
As you
can see, this drive is fragmented very badly.
When
fragmented this badly, the process can take up to a few hours.
The
average healthy drive will only take up to a half hour.
Once
finished, you will need to click the red X
in the top-right corner to close the application.
TIP: Another good idea is to do a defragmentation
before you leave for the day. Leave the machine on to run all night and
complete.
That’s
it! You’re finished!