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Tim's Tidbits: Spring CleaningJul 27 '01 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Sometimes the only way to learn to use a computer is to read an interesting tidbit and connect the dots.
Today's topic: performing spring cleaning.
This series of articles will present several tidbits of information that both novice and advanced computer users can put to good use. Sometimes getting a small blurb of information from time to time is the only way to truly learn to effectively use a computer. These articles are aimed at PC users. Unlike cleaning your room or office, where neglecting to do so results in an uncomfortable layer of dust in the air, cleaning your computer once every few months is a task often forgotten. Similar to cleaning a room, however, cleaning your computer can take time and a touch of effort. Hopefully, the following tidbits will help to streamline the process. Tidbit # 441: Less is more and more is less... more or less If you're like me, you download tons of compressed files from the Internet on an almost daily basis. I've learned from bad experience, however, that it isn't a good idea to throw these files away without creating a backup copy. A rule of thumb I have come to adopt is to create one large "downloads" directory on the hard drive and store all my downloads in that directory. The backup process then becomes simple, just create a new folder on the zip disk or CD-ROM that you're using to store the backup (generally I put the date of the backup as the directory name, such as: "backup_11_14_01") and copy the files over. Once copied, you can delete them from your hard drive and free up some more room for yourself. If you are one of the few people who is stuck making backups on floppy disks, I recommend you use the Backup utility provided with Windows (Usually it is under "start:programs:accessories:system tools", if you do not see it there, you will have to go under "start:settings:control panel:add and remove programs" and find the section about adding and removing Windows components. From there you will have to click on the "system tools" list item and click details then put a check next to the "Backup" utility -- you will need your Windows CD to complete the transfer) as it will take care of archiving your backups across the many floppy disks you will need. Tidbit #800: The doctor is in Once you have made your backups and have removed all of your compressed files (it may also be a good idea to uninstall programs you are no longer using), it's time to run two utilities you should become very familiar with: disk defragmenter and scandisk. The first utility you should run is scandisk located under "start:programs:accessories:system tools" (note: if you cannot find either scandisk or disk defragmenter, see the tidbit above about retrieving them from the Windows cd) but you MUST close down all currently running applications before scanning the disk (otherwise scandisk will interrupt itself). This especially includes any applications running in the system tray (where the time is displayed), just right-click the applications and select close. What is scandisk? It is a utility that will scan your hard drive and fix any directory or file errors it comes upon (as there are occasions when information is not properly written to the disk) as well as checking the hard drive for physical defects. Upon running scandisk, you will more then likely encounter a window complaining about "lost clusters" -- these clusters are pieces of files you have deleted, just tell scandisk to discard the clusters. Disk defragmenter is the next utility to run. The purpose of this utility is to rearrange and rejoin pieces of files that have become scattered (fragmented) across the hard drive. The reason this fragmentation occurs over time is that despite what you may believe, files are not saved on the hard drive as one long continuous region of space, but rather are broken up into small pieces. As you open files these pieces are recombined into memory (RAM) by Windows itself. As files become more and more fragmented (from saving/editing and deleting other files) the time it takes Windows to open a file increases. The defragmenter solves this problem. Tidbit #306: Forgotten E-mail If you use a common email program such as Eudora, Outlook, Outlook Express or similar products there is a feature in these programs that wastes quite a bit of space. It's called the "sent mail" folder. In this folder you will find all of the email documents you have sent to others, including attachments. Most of the time, you will have no need to see this type of email so it's best to go through the sent mail folder and delete the email contained there. Advanced Tidbit #119: Cleaning up after misbehaved programs At some point in time, all programs will crash. I for one have seen the "blue screen of death" more then my fair share of times. Though most programs will recover after a reboot, they more then likely have left a footprint of their demise in Window's temporary directory. The temporary directory is used by most Windows programs to temporarily store changes to a file until you save it. When a program exits normally, it will clean up its mess in the temporary directory. When it crashes, however, this clean-up does not occur so you will have to point Windows Explorer to your temporary directory (typically it's c:\windows\temp on Win9X and ME, c:\documents and settings\[your login name]\temp on Win2K/NT) and delete everything you find there (including sub-directories). Tim Connolly is a full-time college student and part-time webmaster. His parents insist that when cleaning a room he should clean behind furniture that's against the wall. His response, "How many people have come into this house and asked, 'could you turn your sofa around, so I can see the back of it?' " technogeeks.epinions.com.  |
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