Free Space
The C: Disc drive should NEVER be more than 70% full. Even
between 50% and 70% full is unhealthy. I know that this means lots of wasted gigabytes, but that is
a price you need to pay for good response times. Anyway, Disc drives are cheap – much cheaper
than buying a new computer.
Here are the Free Space guidelines:
- 15% Free Space is needed for the Disk Defragmenter to run
- 30% Free Space is the minimum for reasonable response times
- 50% Free Space provides optimal performance.
In Windows Explorer, right click the "C:" Disc drive. Then click Properties. You will see a colourful
pie graph that will quickly show how full the drive is.
If you have multiple RAID Disk drives, the Free Space guidelines can be relaxed.
Remove Junk files
On the same tab, you will see a button "Disc Cleanup". Click it, and it will calculate how much junk
can be deleted. This will include Internet files like Cookies (you can easily accumulate a megabyte
each time you access the Internet), Temporary files, Setup files, the Recycle bin, etc.
There is not much to gain from Compressing old files. There will be little improvement in the available
free disk space, and the compressed files will be slower to open. Any space saved will come from text-based
files, but the real space hoggers like music and video files, are usually already compressed. Use the
compress option if the files are large, seldom used, and on a separate Disc drive.
Click the "OK" button to remove the Junk files.
Search for Old
Files
Do a search using Windows Explorer's search facility, of all files (use *.*) which are more than 2 years
old. Delete most of them – you have not used them for 2 years! Warning – delete your own
files, not system files.
All deleted files are sent to the Recycle bin – you can recover any file inadvertently deleted.
Wait a few weeks before emptying your Recycle bin.
Search for Large
Files
Do a search using Windows Explorer again, listing all files of more than say 1,000 kilobytes. Keep only
the ones that you really, really do want online. Those files that you do not want immediate access to,
and which are more than 2 years old, should be stored offline to a CD. To sort the files in Date order,
click the "Modified" column.
One culprit is often Outlook.pst – where your Outlook emails are stored. You may need to delete
the attachments to messages – pretty pictures can be several megabytes in size. When you have
finished the deletions, you will need to compact Outlook.pst – otherwise it will stay the same
size. When in Outlook, select File/Data File Management/Settings and click "Compact Now".
Delete system
log files
Do a search for all "*.log" files. If you have logging enabled, these files can accumulate quickly.
Delete Temporary
Files
Use Windows Explorer to open the folder C:\Windows\Temp. The files in this folder can accumulate quickly.
Delete all files older than one week.
Buy another Disc
Drive
You will get much better throughput from two Disc drives. The advantages are:
- It increases the free space on your C: drive.
- It allows you to split the files logically into system and user files.
- It allows simultaneous access to both Disc drives, providing better throughput.
- When upgrading to a new operating system, there is less chance that your personal files will be lost.
Think about buying a new solid-state drive (SSD). These drives are beginning to drop in price and can
improve response times dramatically.
Whatever you do, don't be talked into a single large Disc drive instead of two smaller Disc drives.
There is also little throughput advantage in having three or more Disc drives.
Remove unused
Programs
Use the "Add-Remove Programs" routine to see what programs have been installed on your system (you will
find it in Start/Settings/Control Panel). Then uninstall any software no longer in use.
File relating to the uninstalled program frequently remain, so open the Program Files folder and search
for the uninstalled Program name, and delete the folder and contents. But make sure that program has
been uninstalled before any deletions with Windows Explorer.
Defragmentation
is essential
After a while, the data files that reside on a Disc drive get spread further and further from the centre
of the Disc. The files that reside furthest will have slow access times – up to 10 times slower
than a well placed file. Also, files are frequently split into smaller parcels (extents in computer
jargon) to allow them to slot into the available, scattered free space. The time to access 100 or more
extents will be slow.
You can defragment your Disc drive manually. Right Click the "C:" drive, select Properties/Tools then
click the button "Defragment Now".
Regular Maintenance
The suggested Disc maintenance steps should be carried out regularly. You will be amazed at the difference
to your computer. Response times will return to that of a new PC (almost!).
Solid State Disc
drives
The faster your hard disc drives are the better will be the performance. For a huge boost in responsiveness,
you need a Solid State Disc (SSD) drive. Everything will be noticeably faster - all actions will be
nearly instantaneous. The computer will boot faster, install faster, shutdown faster, launch faster.