Use Windows' Utilities

Finish It Off With Windows Utilities

Disk CleanUp

In Windows98+ there is a utility called Disk CleanUp that will assist with the cleanup of a lot of garbage files.

Click Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Disk CleanUp and then choose the letter of the drive you want to clean up. Disk CleanUp will then give you a choice of the files it can delete for you.

Here, you can automatically remove your Temporary Internet Files, Downloaded Program Files, Offline Web Pages, Temporary Files, and clean out the Recycle Bin.

By putting a check in the boxes beside each choice, you can have Disk CleanUp remove these files for you. Notice the utility also tells you how much disk space you will gain by deleting the specified files. Its pretty well safe to leave all these checked. Then click OK.

The choices available from the 'More Options' tab are the same choices you can make using 'Add/Remove Programs' in Control Panel.

ScanDisk

ScanDisk is a utility that can scan your hard drive for problems with the FAT (File Allocation Table) as far as unassociated entries, crossed-linked chains and lost clusters. It can also analyse the disk surface for errors, marking bad sectors so that nothing is allocated to them. Everything previously mentioned should be done before using ScanDisk, especially any file deletions or additions. This includes emptying the Recycle Bin and clearing the Internet Cache. ScanDisk can be accessed by clicking Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/ScanDisk. From here, you can choose the drive you want to check and the type of test you want to perform.

You can do a Standard test fairly quickly, and as often as you want. But, a thorough scan should be done on a regular basis (even once a week), and this can take a long time depending on the size of your drive. That's why you should get to know, and use, the Task Scheduler in later versions of Windows.

In the 'Advanced' section of ScanDisk, you can choose certain options. This is what I suggest:
Display summary - Always
Log file - Replace log
Cross-linked files - Delete
Lost file fragments - Free
Check files for - Invalid file names, dates and times

One thing about ScanDisk. Before you click the Start button, you should make sure there are no programs running in the background. This includes Anti-Virus programs, screen savers and any other TSRs that may be running. If something else tries to access the disk, ScanDisk may need to start over.

ScanDisk can be accessed in DOS by typing SCANDISK at the DOS prompt. The DOS version of ScanDisk should only be used after booting to DOS. Not from a shelled version of DOS, with windows running in the background.

Defrag

The Disk Defrag utility should be the final step you perform. Over a period of time, after deleting many files, then adding programs, then deleting or removing others, the data on your disk can become quite fragmented. In otherwords, it is spread all over your hard drive in non- contiguous clusters and the read/write heads of your drive have to jump all over to gather the info for a file. This can create a noticeable reduction in your computer's speed.

Defrag is a disk optimizing utility that will rearrange the files back into contiguous order and reduce the fragmentation of your hard drive, considerably speeding up access times. This can be a long process with today's drives, and should be done when you won't need your computer for a couple of hours.

Once again, you want to make sure that nothing else is running in the background. This is especially important with Defrag. Any disk access will cause it to start over completely, and finally quit altogether. Click on Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Disk Defragmenter, choose the drive you want to defragment and click OK.

If you want to see what's going on, you can click on 'Show Details' for a graphical view. The legend button will give you an idea as to what each little square means. According to the Windows98 Resource Kit, "Windows 98 monitors applications that you launch, and creates a log file for each application in the \Windows\Applog directory. Disk defragmenter uses the log files to arrange program files in the order they are accessed when the program starts, causing the program to start more quickly."

This means that if you use Disk Defragmenter on a regular basis, it could improve the speed that programs start up.

Task Scheduler

Task Scheduler is a utility that will perform the previously mentioned tasks automatically at a specified time. Because some of these utilities will take hours to perform their tasks, this can be a great asset.

Say you don't use your computer after midnight on Wednesdays. You can set the Task Scheduler to perform a Virus check with your Anti-Virus Program at 1:00am every Thursday morning.

Next, it can be set to run Disk CleanUp at 2:00am, and ScanDisk (thorough scan)at 2:30am. Finally, you could set Disk Defragmenter to run at 4:30am. By the time you got up on Thursday morning, all these tasks would be complete.

Use the Task Scheduler to perform all these tasks, (and others if you want) on a weekly basis. Click on Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Scheduled Tasks. Click 'Add Scheduled Task'. The wizard will run you through the setup procedure. It may take a few attempts to get it perfect, but a little trial and error and you should have your utilities set up to perform their individual tasks when you want them to.

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