Fix My Slow Running Computer

Is your computer running slow?

Let me tell you one free way of de-cluttering your machine so it runs faster.

WHY IS MY COMPUTER SO SLOW?

As you use your computer, it picks up all sorts of information - much of which you probably do not know about. And some of that data gets stored permanently (till you remove it) on your hard disk, gradually filling it up.

The easiest way I know of to get rid of the clutter is CCleaner (formerly Crap Cleaner).

You can download it from http://ccleaner.com but my personal favorite download source is http://filehippo.com because they also have a little doodad you can install for free which checks all your installed software to see what needs an update, then it links you through to the software update.

CCLEANER SETTINGS

When you install CCleaner, you will see two tabs at the top left - Windows and Applications. Under each of those, there are lots of choices which may initially look a bit overwhelming. It does not need to be, and I will help you out by sharing the settings I have been successfully using for a quite a while now.

In the Windows panel:

INTERNET EXPLORER

Temporary internet files - tick (the tick mean CCleaner will erase this)
Cookies - blank
History - blank (I want to be able to search for a site I found last week so I dont want CCleaner to erase my search history)
Recently typed URLs - blank
Delete index.dat files - tick
Last download location - tick
Autocomplete form history - tick

WINDOWS EXPLORER
Recent docs - blank
Run - tick
Search autocomplete - tick
Other Explorer MRUs - tick

SYSTEM
Empty recycle bin - tick
Temporary files - tick
Clipboard - tick
Memory dumps - tick
Chkdsk file fragments - tick
Windows log files - tick (you may want these?)
Start menu shortcuts - tick (I open stuff from my Start button)
Desktop shortcuts - tick

ADVANCED
Old prefetch data - tick
Menu order cache - blank
Tray notifications cache - blank (I leave this alone because frankly I dont understand this one - the best policy, other than finding out what it does)
Window size/location cache - blank (I want my settings the way I set them, not the defaults)
User assist history - blank (same reason as tray notifications)
IIS log files - tick
Hotfix uninstallers - tick (some might disagree?)
Custom files and folders - tick

Another way to look at the kit you’ve got installed on your computer is via the second tab, which is the Applications tab. This has various subheadings:

FIREFOX/MOZILLA
Cookies - blank (I want to keep my cookies, except the occasional one/s that I remove manually via Tools > Options > Privacy)
Download history - tick
Internet cache - history (I want fresh pages, not what might be stored in my cache)
Internet history - blank
Saved form info - blank

APPLICATIONS
Adobe reader - blank (I want to be able to open AR and use the File menu to open the last PDF I read)
Office 2003 - blank
Textpad - tick

INTERNET
Google toolbar - tick
MNS Messenger - tick
Sun java - tick
Yahoo toolbar - tick

MULTIMEDIA
Adobe flash player - tick
Quicktime player - tick
Quicktime cache - tick
Windows media player - tick

UTILITIES
7-zip - tick
AVG - tick
Spybot - tick
Windows Defender - tick

WINDOWS
MS Paint - tick
Wordpad - tick
Regedit - tick

UNINSTALLER

As if that’s not enough (and remember this is a FREE tool), it also has an uninstaller tool. You access it via the Tools tab. First it shows you a full list of the stuff you have installed on your computer, along with an uninstall button at the top right.

FIRST TIME USER TIPS

You can run CCleaner in Analyze mode or in Cleaner mode. I suggest the first time you use it, use the Analyze mode so you get a list of what it recommends you remove - before you authorize it to remove the clutter. After a little while, if you are like me, you will trust the Cleaner sufficiently to simply hit the RUN button and let it do its marvellous thing. It completes in a matter of seconds… significantly under a minute, except maybe the first time it runs.

Ah yes, there is also a ‘Check for updates’ link and they do update it several times a month.

HOW MUCH CLUTTER DO YOU HAVE ON YOUR COMPUTER?

Well, that will depend on how many hours per day you are online and what you do with your computer.

My user experience? Depending on how long since I ran it last, CCleaner has removed as much as 3 GB of junk from my machine. I try to run it more frequently than that now. I have tried to make it part of my closedown routine at the end of the day, and done that frequently it only takes a few seconds.

WHEN TO RUN CCLEANER

One great time to run it is just before you do a defrag. Defragmenting is when the computer re-assembles all the fragments of information it has scattered all over the hard drive. It does that to make best use of the available storage space but as more and more of your documents are scattered in tiny fragments all over your hard disk, it takes your machine longer to find and assemble all the fragments… which is why your computer gets slower over time. (How do you defrag? If you are running a Windows program, click Start, click Help, then type defrag into the Search box and it will tell you all about defragging.)

Now you know one of the reasons why your fast computer has turned into a slow computer - and you also have one handy, free solution. Enjoy.

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