Tech Tip

HOW TO OPTIMIZE THE PERFORMANCE OF YOUR PC

Disk cleanup deletes temporary files from hard drive and frees up space. A disk cleanup is performed by opening my computer and right clicking on your C: drive and clicking on properties and then clicking the Disk Cleanup button.

Next check your hard drive for errors. Checking your hard drive for errors helps you identify hard drive problems before they occur. Checking your hard drive can be performed by opening my computer and right clicking on your C: drive, click on the tools tab, and click on the Check Now button in the error checking area.

The next step you can perform is to defrag your hard drive. When files are created, Windows just throws them on any free space that it finds on the drive. This causes files to be spread out and fragmented. The Disk Defragmenter program puts all the data from files together rather than having them spread out all over the place. This lets Windows access files quicker. Before defragmenting your computer, close all the programs that are running on your computer because they may interfere with the defrag program. You should close all programs including your Anti-virus software, screensaver, and programs running in the task bar. Defragmenting your hard drive is performed by opening my computer, right clicking your C: drive, click on the tools tab, and click on the Defrag Now button in the defragmentation area. I recommend defragmenting your hard drive at night because it can take several hours to complete.

Additional tasks you can perform are to delete internet cookies, clear your history, delete temporary internet files, and perform a virus and spyware scan of your computer weekly.