Preparing your Hard Drive

There are times, especially before installing a new program, where it may be necessary to clean up and organize your hard drive. Sometimes a hard drive can become cluttered with a number of temporary files, or files that are out of order on the hard disk due to uninstalling and reinstalling. It can also suffer losses in integrity that can cause errors. There are three programs that can correct these issues.

• Disk Cleanup
• Error-Checking/ScanDisk
• Defragmenter

Disk Cleanup is a program that scans your hard drive, finds temporary and otherwise unnecessary files and gives you the option of removing them from your hard drive. This clears up hard drive space and helps prevent file conflicts.

To use Disk Cleanup:

1. Click on the Start button.
2. Click on All Programs.
3. Click on Accessories.
4. Click on System Tools.
5. Click on Disk Cleanup.
6. It will take a few minutes to scan the drive; wait for this process to complete.
7. Click on the boxes of items that you would like to delete/empty.
   1. Typically one would choose:
      • Temporary Internet Files
      • Recycle Bin
      • Temporary Files
      • Temporary Offline Files
8. Click on OK once you have finished choosing.
9. A message while appear asking you to confirm your choices; click Yes to continue.
10. The deletion process may take a few minutes to complete.

If you have reason to believe that there may be an error on the hard drive, or just want to check the integrity of the hard disk, you can run a check program to find and resolve any issues on the hard drive.

• For Windows XP/Windows 2000:
  1. Open My Computer.
  2. Right-click on the hard drive you would like to scan and choose Properties.
  3. Click on the Tools tab.
  4. Click on the Check Now button in the Error-Checking box.
  5. Check the options that you would like to use and click on the Start button.
  6. The scan may take a number of minutes to complete. It will alert you of any errors or repaired sectors.
  7. When the 'Disk Check Complete' message appears, click OK to finish the process.

• For Windows 98/Windows ME:
  1. Click on the Start button.
  2. Go to Programs.
  3. Go to Accessories.
  4. Go to System Tools.
  5. Click on ScanDisk.
  6. Be sure to choose the Thorough Scan option or else the drive will not be checked for errors.
  7. This scan will take a number of minutes to complete. It will alert you of any errors or repaired sectors.

The Disk Defragmenter program reorganizes the data on your hard disk to better utilize space and make the hard drive more efficient. After extended use; installing, uninstalling, and reinstalling; adding and removing files; etc. the data on a hard drive can be all over the place and your hard drive has to work harder (and therefore slower) to access and save information. Using the Defragmenter groups all like and related files for faster access and groups all free space together for efficiency. This is especially helpful when installing new programs.

1. Click on the Start button.
2. Go to Programs.
3. Go to Accessories.
4. Go to System Tools.
5. Click on Disk Defragmenter.
6. From here you may choose a drive to defragment or analyze your drives to detect if a defragmentation is recommended.
7. Defragmentation can take a long time depending on the size and state of the drive. It is best just to leave the Defragmenter running and not to use the computer during this process.