How to Clean Up Your PC from Clutter - Using Free Tools

Did you know that your computer accumulates a lot of data garbage over a span of time? Web browsers, like Internet Explorer or Firefox save temporary files in your hard disk while you browse. These files, usually images on website are stored locally to help speed up loading pages on sites you frequently visit. Also, did you know that, as you add or delete files on your computer, your hard disk gets fragmented (similar to paper clutter on your desk) your files are located on separate portions in your hard disk. Fragmentation of your hard disk may cause slow down in accessing your files and therefore causing your programs to load longer.

How to delete unwanted files on your hard disk

First, download this awesome free tool called CCleaner from a company called Piriform, their website is at http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner. Once installed, run CCleaner, and this is what it should look like:



Choose which files you want to be cleaned up and click on Analyze to see how much disk space will be cleared and which files will be removed. If you are okay with the results of the analysis, you can now click on Run Cleaner to do the actual clean up.

You can run CCleaner as frequently as you please depending on your computer usage.

Next, to defrag (organize) your hard disk, download a free disk defragment tool called smart defrag at http://www.iobit.com/iobitsmartdefrag.html from a company named IOBIT. Once installed, run Smart defrag, you should see a screen similar to this:



Click on Start, this will start the defrag process. The red blocks identify the fragmented files on your hard disk, after defragmenting, these red blocks should be reduced and you know your hard disk is back to running smoothly again.