Laptop Cleaning Basics
Steps for cleaning your laptop's cache, defragmenting and other tips
When you travel for a living, or even if you need a laptop for hopping to a business conference, you need to learn some tricks to keep your mobile computer running right.
Even your faithful traveler's laptop can get junked up with too much "stuff". Here's how to start eliminating the old files and the fluff that impedes efficient function when you need reliable functions when traveling.
(Note - this is for IBM PCs...sorry Mac users!)
1. Defrag - Open "My Computer" and right-click on the drive that you want to defrag. This organizes the files on your hard drive so that they can be accessed faster. By analogy, suppose when your clothes come out of the dryer you simply put them in the nearest closet or drawer that wasn't full. Eventually you would have to walk from room to room just to get dressed. Defragging your clothes would re-organize them so that things that went together were stored near each other.
2. Empty the Cache - When you browse the web the files that you download - text, images, etc. - are temporarily stored on your PC. That way after you return to a website often many of the elements of the page will already be in your cache and won't have to be re-downloaded. Most browsers have a setting that lets you determine how long something will remain in your cache so that it doesn't keep filling up.
3. Empty Your Trash - Called your Trash Bin, or Recycle Bin, you need to empty it now and then. You have one for your program files, probably on your desktop (right click on it and follow directions). You also have one in your email files. Clear them both if you don't have a program that dumps them periodically for you.
4. Take a Look at Your Desktop - Do you have a lot of files cluttering up that desktop display? Do you use them all? How often? Certainly keep files you use every day as a shortcut on your laptop. Try moving files you access weekly into the Your Documents section, into subfiles of your choice. Use clear names for these files, so you can tell what kinds of documents you've stored there.
5. Your Program Files - Under the "Control Panel" you'll see "Add remove programs". From here you can get rid of those old programs that you no longer use.
