Greetings once again! Welcome to your new Clinic. We covered scandisk and chkdsk hard drive health check-ups back in Clinic 7 .
This time we'll touch on some other major contributors to poor PC health.
Look at this poor PC.
While not exactly 'sick', it is
certainly not performing at its best, either!
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SYMPTOMS COULD INCLUDE ...
General sluggishness, programs slow to load, unexplained
hang-ups, a general indication of premature aging.........and a overall
lack of performance. |
One of the reasons for this poor health might be (and here
I must be medically specific):
Computer Constipation!
Over time, computers
collect an enormous number of files that are no longer required.
In short, they accumulate JUNK!
These junk files pile up in your E-mail program, in temporary
folders, in the Internet cache, in the History folder
... in fact, just about everywhere on our hard drive.
Hopefully, all of you
have already gotten in to the sensible habit of using EndItAll (1
or 2) and Scandisk [for XP users -
it is known as'chkdsk'] on a weekly basis. (Full
download and "How to ..." details are in Clinics 5, 6 and 7.)
If so, good work and well done!
BUT
there is another very important procedure to use to ensure you
are maintaining your PCs good health...and that is to make sure all 'waste
products' are eliminated!
SO ... let's give our PC a few doses of medicine.
CLEAN UP YOUR E-MAIL CLIENT
For this example, we'll be referring to Outlook Express.
Although your e-mail program (client) may differ, the instructions will
generally apply if properly adapted:
- Open your E-mail client. .
- In the LEFT panel, click on each folder in sequence and
review its contents in the TOP RIGHT panel.
Once you
have determined which e-mails to keep and which to remove, either:
- LEFT click on the Header/Subject Title (in the top
right panel) of each e-mail you do NOT want,
- Then click on the 'Delete' button (it's the big red X),
OR
- RIGHT click on a Header/Subject Title.
- In the menu that appears, choose 'Delete'.
The
unwanted e-mail will be moved to your 'Deleted Items' folder.
- Repeat this process for EVERY folder (in the left hand
panel) and for each piece of e-mail that you no longer want.
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In the top right hand panel,
LEFT click to highlight the Title/Subject header of
each e-mail you
want to delete.
Then either:
--LEFT click on the 'Delete' button (the red X) to
remove the item, or
--RIGHT click on the Title/Subject header and this menu appears. Now
LEFT click once on the 'Delete' option near the bottom of the
list.
In both cases, the unwanted e-mail is moved to your 'Deleted Items'
folder.
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The final step is to dispose of the junk e-mails permanently:
- In the left hand panel of Outlook Express, RIGHT click on the
'Deleted Items' folder. A new menu appears.
- Click on Empty 'Deleted Items' Folder:
- A box will pop up asking you to confirm the permanent
deletion.
Click on 'Yes'
Z-Z-ZAP !
ALL OF THEM ----- GONE !
You now have a leaner, cleaner e-mail client !
Now
let's get after the rest of the junk still on your hard drive.
To do that, we'll need a new program called 'Disk Cleaner' (the
current version is 1.5.4)
Starting with
Windows 98,
Microsoft included a program called "Disk Cleanup". (
Windows 95 had NO built-in clean-up
program at all.)
Although the Windows cleaner program is---well---adequate, it is
certainly not nearly as good nor as FAST as the FREE
program we're about to show you how to download and use.
The link to this wonderful program is at the bottom of this clinic
page---but we strongly suggest you read through all the
instructions below before going for the download.
Off we go then:
How to Download DISK CLEANER
- Create a sub-folder called 'Disk Cleaner' under
your main Downloads folder. (For full instructions on how to do this,
review Clinic 4 and Clinic 5 )
- When ready---and after you have reviewed all of
these instructions, click the link at the bottom of this clinic page to
start the download.
- Remember--when the Download Manager asks whether to 'Open
the program' or 'Save it to disk ', select 'Save to disk
... '
- Download the program into your new Disk Cleaner
folder. (Full instructions on how to download correctly are in Clinic 5)
- Once the program has fully downloaded, go to and open your Disk
Cleaner folder. It will contain a file called 'dcsetup.exe'
- Double click on this file and the Installation
Wizard will start.
Be diligent during the
installation because you will be asked to make a few choices:
- For the Type of install, be sure you select 'Typical'
and that all three boxes are ticked.
- Next, make sure the Destination folder says 'C:\Program
Files\Disk Cleaner\'.
- Once the installation is complete and you have clicked the 'Finish'
button, go back to your desktop, click on the big Start button
(lower left), then choose 'Programs'. A new menu will open.
- Scroll to and click on the 'Disk Cleaner' entry. A
new menu will open to the right.
- RIGHT click on the little the purple funnel icon beside the
'Disk Cleaner' entry and choose 'Send to ....
Desktop (as a shortcut)'
- A shortcut icon (the same little purple funnel) with the
title of 'Disk Cleaner.exe' will appear on your desktop.
- Either leave it as is or RENAME it to "Disk Cleaner".
('How to rename files' is in Clinic 4)
GREAT !! You have just downloaded and installed a SUPERB clean-up tool
that does a much better job than that ordinary old Windows
program!
Let's
put it to work!!
GIVE YOUR HARD DRIVE A COMPLETE CLEAN-UP
- Although not absolutely essential, it is a always a very
good idea to close down all running programs using 'End It All 2'
(Full instructions on how to get EndItAll --for free, of
course!--and how to use it are in Clinics 5, 6 and 7).
- DOUBLE click on the new 'Disk Cleaner' shortcut on
your desktop. A new pane opens with a list of all the folders and files
that Disk Cleaner can be set to search through and clean.
- Scroll down the list and tick ALL the boxes--with one
possible exception:
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The only box that your PC Doctor
leaves UNticked is the "URL's in IE (Internet
Explorer) address bar."
This is because the Internet Explorer address bar logs (saves) a list
of the last 15 - 20 web sites you've typed in and/or visited.
Should you wish to re-visit
one of these sites, just
click on the little down arrow on the right of the address bar and
choose the site.
Internet Explorer will connect you.
Since this is a very useful feature, I
do NOT want those URL's (links) deleted, so I leave this box unticked
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- When you are ready, click on the Clean
button. Disk Cleaner will scour your hard drive.
In
a few moments, it will confirm that it has found and cleared the
detritus from all the selected categories and will give you a complete
summary.<>
- Scroll down to the bottom
of the list to find out the total number of 'junk' files that have been
removed.
Prepare to
be amazed!
Here is a typical
example:
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This shows a typical summary of all the
unwanted files that have been found and deleted from the folders, etc.
chosen on the 'Select objects to clean' screen.
Notice the total at the bottom.
YES.....That's right!
After just one week of surfing the Net and other normal PC usage (
since the last clean up), over
THREE THOUSAND
junk files had accumulated!
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AND YOU THOUGHT YOUR PC WASN'T CONSTIPATED !!!
After you gasp in disbelief at the amount of junk you had on
your computer (and have now cleared out), you can close Disk Cleaner
by clicking on the 'Exit' button.
WELL DONE!!
You now have a leaner, cleaner computer!
Okay then....If you have read through and understand all of
the information above, go ahead and connect to the internet to download
Disk Cleaner.
Click HERE to go to the Disk Cleaner home page: Once there, click on the word 'Download' in the left
hand column.
(Note : DOUBLE click this link if a single click doesn't connect).
When you get to the Download page, choose one of the 'Self-extracting
installer with all plug-ins' options (not the 'Zip
archive' file) by clicking on either "Mirror #1"
or "Mirror #2".
(FYI:
A 'mirror site' is a satellite location that stores and relays the
identical program(s) you can get from the program developers primary
site.)
To help keep your PC youthful and regular, here is your new
WEEKLY MOT routine :
(1) Delete ALL unwanted emails and then empty the 'Deleted
Items' folder;
(2) Close down all running programs using 'EndItAll' (either
version);
(3) Clean your hard drive thoroughly with Disk Cleaner;
(4) Use 'Scandisk' [for XP users,
it's called 'chkdsk'] to fix any potential
problems.
NOW ... REBOOT ... and enjoy your
rejuvinated PC !
SEE YOU NEXT TIME FOR MORE POWERFUL PC MEDICINE.
Best wishes and Happy Computing ...
Dr. Mac
Dr. Mac's Computer Clinic
LIBRARY
All the Computer
Clinics that have appeared on the idf50 web-site
are HERE
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