Windows XP Checklist and Tune Up

In this article we are going to look at regaining lost speed and things that need doing regularly to maintain your computer.

We will be covering Windows XP in this article. However all Windows systems are very similar.

Lots of us buy a computer, use a computer, then forget the computer. When I first bought my last computer it was very fast to boot up and load programs. However over the past few months it has started to get slower and slower.

It wasn't until I read up on this that I realised that I was supposed to look after my computers health. I had no idea that my 6 month old computer that is supposedly state of the art (read outdated by now) needs my help. OK then it seems that I have to do thing to help out.

Housekeeping??

Have you noticed your computer is not as fast as it used to be? Lots of people have reported back to Microsoft sudden lack of performance. There are many reasons for this unfortunately. The main being either a virus or piece of spyware. Make sure you use a good Anti Virus Program and Spyware Eraser program to detect and remove them. For help you can refer to our articles on Anti Virus Programs and Dealing With Spyware.

If you have been using your computer for some time then you should perform the tasks below. As time goes bye lots of things happen that slows down the overall performance of your PC. By following the steps below you can help your computer out a bit.

Before you begin

Back Up! Back Up! Back Up! Back Up!

No seriously Back Up before you begin any system task. You can use the Backup utility built in to Windows XP.

Figure 1: The Backup utility built in to Windows XP

• Step 1
   
• Click Start, then All Programs, then Accessories,
   
• Then go to System Tools, and then click Backup.
   
• Step 2
   
• If you are not sure how to use the Backup utility then see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article, How to Use Backup to Restore Files and Folders on Your Computer in Windows XP.

Once that's out of the way we are ready to begin.

Removing Unused Programs

On of the first things to do is to remove any unused programs that you may have installed. If you are anything like me you will have installed lots of programs. Sometimes I like the program and continue to use it other times I forget about it. So how do we get rid of the programs we don't want any more?

• Step 1
   
• Click on Start, and then click Control Panel. When the Control Panel opens click on Add or Remove Programs.
   

Figure 2: The Windows XP Add or Remove Programs box

• Step 2
   
• Now you can go through the list of programs ( See Figure 2: above ) and remove things that you don't use. For more information you can click on a program in the list and it will show you how often you use that problem.
   
• Things to Note
    
• One thing to remember when uninstalling programs. If the uninstaller asks you if you want to 'Remove Shared Files' it is normally best to say no and leave these. These files might be being used by other programs and if you remove them you may have more problems. These are only small files usually so remove everything else and leave shared files.
   
• Don't remove anything from Microsoft with names like 'Update' or 'Hotfix' these are Windows Update files.

Next we can move on to getting rid of files you don't need.

Throwing out the Trash

I will be honest this is one of the things i hardly ever do. After removing unused programs you can also free up more disk space by running the 'Disk Cleanup' wizard.

• Step 1
    
• Click Start then My Computer,
   
• You will see your computers hard drives listed right-click (C:), and then select Properties
   
• On the General tab, click the Disk Cleanup button. The system will then spend a few minutes going through your hard drive.

Figure 3: The Windows XP Disk Cleanup box

• Step 2
    
• Now select the options for the files you want to delete. See Figure 3: Then click OK
   
• You will be prompted to click OK again. Then its done.
   
• Step 3
    
• Repeat steps 1 & 2 for all your hard drives or partitions

Checking and The Disk Defragmenter

Right now stuff that really matters. Once you have removed what you don't need you should make sure what you are keeping is in good condition.

Next

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This is the first part of our 'Windows XP Checklist and Tune Up' series of articles. Written by Alan Lloyd on behalf of WWW Security Services. You are free to reproduce this tutorial in its entirety with this statement and links left intact. You must click on the link below and use the code provided.

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