Free up disk space

By freeing disk space, you can improve the performance of your computer. The Disk Cleanup tool helps you free up space on your hard disk. The utility identifies files that you can safely delete, and then enables you to choose whether you want to delete some or all of the identified files.
Use Disk Cleanup to:
1)
Remove temporary Internet files.
2)
Remove downloaded program files (such as Microsoft ActiveX controls and Java applets).
3)
Empty the Recycle Bin.
4)
Remove Windows temporary files.
5)
Remove optional Windows components that you don't use.
6)
Remove installed programs that you no longer use.
Tip: Typically, temporary Internet files take the most amount of space because the browser caches each page you visit for faster access later.




Disk Cleanup
1.
Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Cleanup. If several drives are available, you might be prompted to specify which drive you want to clean.


2.In the Disk Cleanup for dialog box, scroll through the content of the Files to delete list.


3.
Clear the check boxes for files that you don't want to delete, and then click OK.
4.
When prompted to confirm that you want to delete the specified files, click Yes.

Disk Defragmenter
In addition to running Disk Defragmenter at regular intervals—monthly is optimal—there are other times you should run it too, such as when:•You add a large number of files.
•Your free disk space totals 15 percent or less.
•You install new programs or a new version of Windows.


1.Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Defragmenter.


2.In the Disk Defragmenter dialog box, click the drives that you want to defragment, and then click the Analyze button. After the disk is analyzed, a dialog box appears, letting you know whether you should defragment the analyzed drives.


3.
To defragment the selected drive or drives, click the Defragment button. Note: In Windows Vista, there is no graphical user interface to demonstrate the progress—but your hard drive is still being defragmented.
After the defragmentation is complete, Disk Defragmenter displays the results.
4.
To display detailed information about the defragmented disk or partition, click View Report.
5.
To close the View Report dialog box, click Close.
6.
To close the Disk Defragmenter utility, click the Close button on the title bar of the window.


Error Checking utility:
1.
Close all open files.
2.
Click Start, and then click My Computer.
3.
In the My Computer window, right-click the hard disk you want to search for bad sectors, and then click Properties.
4.
In the Properties dialog box, click the Tools tab.
5.
Click the Check Now button.
6.
In the Check Disk dialog box, select the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box, and then click Start.
7.If bad sectors are found, choose to fix them.