You may think that cleaning your computer may not be necessary, but have you ever thought about how your computer ran when you first purchased it? Think about it in terms of an automobile. When new, it’s a clean and finely tuned machine, but over time, the everyday elements Mother Nature throws at it can make it seem like you’re always playing catch up to keep it running and looking like new. The same applies to your computer. Constant use will eventually wear down the components, but more likely to occur much sooner is disk fragmentation. The computer hard drive stores all of the programs and files you use everyday, and over time, they become scattered across the surface, much like the desk in your office. My personal favorite tune up utility is the built-in Windows Disk Defragmenter. You can find it by clicking your Start button, and navigating over to All Programs, Accessories, and System Tools. After analyzing the C: drive, you will then be shown a map view of the files on the drive. If you see more red then blue, your computer is long over due for a nice re-organization and optimization. You will notice a nice small performance increase, and you will be doing your hard drive a favor by helping it work under a little less stress.

Also located in System Tools is the Disk Cleanup utility. This is an important step in the spring-cleaning process. Once launched, the program will search your computer for several key items that can be removed and thus allowing critical additional space be made available for use for more useful purposes. The utility will allow you to easily empty the recycle bin, as well as remove unneeded temporary files such as downloaded Internet pages and images. You also have the option to clean up installed programs by launching the Add/Remove Programs Control Panel item. This in my opinion is a crucial step. This will give you the ability to remove rarely used programs that may have been sitting dormant on your computer for months, as well as allowing you to spot if any potential ad-ware or annoying toolbars that you want to be rid of. Another consideration at this point is to run quick anti-virus and spy ware scans to ensure a neat and healthy system.

You can also take this time to do a spot check of your hardware and identify if you need to make any key upgrades to some components. Running the utilities I have mentioned will give you a strong gauge of your available disk space while also allowing you to time to consider backup strategies as well. The key to a clean and nimble computer is to keep these quick tips in mind and know that your computer needs to be tuned and cleaned from time to time just like everything else in life.