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PART 1: CLEANING YOUR DISKDRIVE

A fragmented disk drive can greatly slow down a machine. Ensure your disk drive is checked for errors, cleaned and defragmented. This is easy to do.

First, lets clean up all the temporary folders.

Step 1. Open Internet Explorer (if you do not use Internet Explorer, skip this step)

Step 2. Click TOOLS then click Internet Options.

Step 3. Under “Temporary Internet Files,” Click “Delete Files”. Check the box “Delete Offline Content” if it appears. Click OK.

Step 4. Under “History” click “Clear History”. Click “Yes”. When finished, close internet Explorer. Note: Next time you surf the web, it will be a bit slower at first since we just cleaned everything out. But this is totally fine, and should be done every few months.

Step 5. Click Start -->Run.

Step 6. In the blank space type: %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Temp

Step 7. Press Enter

Step 8. Press CTRL+A (hold down the Control key and press A, this is to select all the files, we want to delete everything in this folder)

Step 9. Press DELETE and answer YES. This is your TEMP folder. You do not need ANY of these files. They are clutter. If your computer stops abruptly and tells you that a file is in use and it cant delete it, then go in manually and delete every file you are able to. Even the folders. Everything inside this TEMP folder is expendable. Once we have all the clutter deleted, its time to defrag our disk. (its important to defrag a disk AFTER you delete all the clutter)

NOW LETS DEFRAG YOUR DISK

Step 1: Right click the Start button. Click “Explore”

Step 2: Highlight “My Computer”

Step 3: On each of your hard drives (beginning with Local Disk C), highlight and right click, then click “Properties”

Step 4: On the properties page, click GENERAL and then DISK CLEANUP. This will delete more unnecessary temp files. This is always good to do BEFORE defragmenting your drive. You may need to wait a few minutes for the scanning to complete.

Important Tip! Your FREE SPACE (visible in the picture above) should always be GREATER THAN 500MB (which is 1/2 of 1GB). If it LESS than 500MB (or 0.5 GB) then that means your DISK IS FULL and your computer will be bogged down indefinitely until you either A) delete items on the disk or B) Move items to another disk (which may require you buying a new one)

STEP 5 On the properties page, click TOOLS and then DEFRAGMENT NOW.

If you see this screen come up, simply highlight a drive (start with C) and click DEFRAGMENT. DO it for each drive that you can.

Note: This can take a LONG time so please be patient! You can also check your disk for errors when you right click your C-drive and choose TOOLS. You should do this as well.

REBOOT YOUR COMPUTER WHEN THIS IS FINISHED!

PART 2: VALIDATING YOUR OPERATING SYSTEM

Now we are going to ensure that Windows is as it should be. Click Start-->Run and type CMD then press enter

You will get a black screen come up where you can type in. Type SFC /SCANNOW then press enter

This nifty command will examine every single critical windows file and ensure they are intact. Highly important in case trojans or viruses have attacked your PC. If a trojan has corrupted your windows files, this command will restore them.

Finally, make sure you update your Windows to the latest patches. Open your internet and in the address bar type: windowsupdate.microsoft.com

Upate with all recommended patches.

Uninstalling hardware drivers also increases performance. Does your Scanner auto-start everytime you boot up your computer? You can remove this from the startup areas discussed earlier.

FINAL TIPS:

After performing this system, The #1 way to make a computer speed up quickly is by adding more memory. Adding memory is better than anything else, and is a cheap way to quickly boost your computer. Adding memory is quick and easy. You can take your computer (just the box) to any computer store and they can do it for you very quickly. And remember that having a full disk (you should have noted your disk space in the steps above) will nearly always bog down a computer.

GOOD LUCK!

-Arthur Hunter, MCSE, MCSA, MCP, A+

You have completed the entire system.