Mouse Clix
This is your Mom!
Go clean up your computer!
I know that I have visited Computer Cleanup as a
subject before, but the more I look at other people’s computers the more I
think I must play the message louder. A
clean machine is a fast machine that will cause you less problems. Here are a few suggestions that bear
repeating.
Many of my students have visiting children and
grandchildren who drop buy and drop CDs into their CD-ROM drive for an
evening’s entertainment and never bother to remove it. There is no need to be a tyrant about it,
but if they put some software in there they should know how to take it out.
Well, first things first. Here is a way to find out what all is in there. A free program is available at www.belarc.com. This program will give you a complete list of the all the
programs installed in your computer as well as other information about it. Have a look at the list and see if you can
figure which ones you really do not need.
To uninstall a program look for it at Start and Programs and see if
there is an offer of an uninstall that will appear in a cascading menu. If there is an uninstall feature, click on
it. If you do not see uninstall there,
go to Start, Settings and Control Panel.
Click on Add/Remove programs and look for the program on the list. If you see it, highlight (by clicking on it)
and then click on Add/Remove just below the right side of the field of program
names. If you are unsure as to what can
be removed, ask someone you know that is knowledgeable or send me e-mail at the
address below. If you see programs
there that you are not using but you have the disk to reload it, remove it and
reinstall it again when you actually need it.
Another interesting site is www.pcpitstop.com. This one takes a bit longer but they will
tell you what needs help in your computer.
They may even suggest a new computer or upgrade. At any rate, you will know what the
shortcomings may be in the computer you have, so that if you are interested in
a new computer you will get information about what could stand improving and by
how much.
Next, you may want to consider looking at all the
programs that run when you start up your computer. The more that are running the slower everything will be, in general. Click on Start and Run and the put
<msconfig> (without the brackets) in the window that appears there. Everything that is running from startup will
appear in a list and you can deselect any program that you are not using
now. You may see an immediate
improvement if you end up deselecting more than a few of these programs.
One of my current suggestions is to go to Start,
Setting, Control Panel and System. When
it opens look in the lower right for Memory (RAM) that you have. If it is 32MB or less, consider getting some
more. At the very least, it can be
doubled. Many of he chain stores will
install these memory chips free.
Another thing you can do is to clean up your desktop
and get rid of any shortcut icons you are not using. These icons have the little arrow in them. This designates them as shortcuts and not
full programs. They may be dragged to
the recycle bin. If you have Windows 98
or later, go to Start, Programs, Accessories and then click on System
Tools. Do Disk Cleanup first and check
all the boxes in the resulting screen to eliminate any unnecessary files,
especially all the Temporary Internet Files that you have accumulated while
surfing the Internet. It does not hurt
to run Scan Disk and Defragmenter as well, but be aware that disk Defragmenter
will take some time to do.
To repeat, I spend considerable time in front of
other people’s computers and know that they are often filled with unused
programs placed there by well meaning family members. It is to your advantage in keeping the speed up by removing
these. And further, if you come to the conclusion that you would just like to
empty the whole machine and start all over, this is rather easily done. This is especially true if you have a
“recovery disk” that came with the computer when you bought it. Just follow the instructions on the
disk. Be prepared to spend as much as
45 minutes or more in this process and be sure to check that you have all the
software for any essential programs that you have added since you purchased the
computer. This might include any
software, like Word and greeting card programs as well as your printer and
scanner.
Next, take a look at your “My Documents Folder” and
see what you can eliminate from there.
I am especially referring to photos that you have received via e-mail
and that may have been saved there or in “My Downloads.” If these are not being used it might be a
good idea to save them to a floppy disk and then delete them from these
folders. Photos especially take up lots
of valuable space.
Lastly, have a look in your e-mail to see how many
letters you have in there. I have
visited computers with 300 or more letters still in them. My suggestion is to copy out any valuable
information (Copy and Paste) and delete the mail. You should not have more than 50 saved letters. In addition, remember that in most e-mail
programs when you delete the mail it only goes to a deleted mail file that must
be emptied as well.
Keep your computer clean and “Mom” won’t bug you
about it.
Hobie Lunin is a Computer Instructor and
Consultant. He can be reached at
mouseclix2@yahoo.com