Why you should consider it: Even if your computer is brand new and has an enormous hard drive, the presence of stray junk files can have a negative impact on your computer’s efficiency.

“To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of
years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day.”

-Sir Winston Churchill

How can I safely keep my hard drive free of junk?

Over time, your computer can amass an incredible number of “junk”
files. If you have an older computer with a small hard drive this may eventually
cripple the performance of your system. This can range from not being able to
install that new program you just bought to bringing the entire computer to
a grinding halt. Windows needs at least a little free space on your hard drive
in order to function properly. You’ve probably heard of the much-publicized
problem with NASA’s Mars Lander “Spirit”. Though Spirit is
not running Windows and uses flash memory in lieu of a hard drive, the problem
was traced to its data storage becoming filled to capacity. Deleting unnecessary
files clogging its virtual drive solved the problem.

Even if your computer is brand new and has an enormous hard drive, the presence
of stray junk files can have a negative impact on your computer’s efficiency.
Defragging the drive will take longer, since all of those unnecessary files
will have to be sorted and moved along with your critical files. In addition
to that, trying to find a particular file will be greatly simplified if you
don’t have to wade through hundreds – or thousands – of useless
files. Drive cleaning can greatly enhance your computer’s performance. As a
word of warning, you should be careful when you delete anything. Many seemingly
useless files are critical to your computers operation. If you delete the wrong
file, you may be facing a repair install or a complete format and reload. We’ll
examine several different ways to make cleanup an easy – and safe – process.

First, let’s define exactly what a junk file is. Perhaps the easiest
way to do this is to separate all of the files on your computer into three general
categories:

1) System Files and Program Files

These are critical files needed to run Windows or other programs on your computer.
Delete one of these and the program may not run properly, if at all. Delete
a Windows System File and your computer may not even boot, or if it does, may
give you endless error messages.

2) Data Files

These are files like documents, pictures, mp3’s, video files, backups,
etc. Your computer will run just fine without these, but you won’t be
too thrilled if you find that you’ve accidentally deleted the report your
boss expects on his desk tomorrow, the thousands of mp3’s it took you
days to rip from your CD collection, or all of the digital pictures you’ve
snapped over the last few years.

3) Other Miscellaneous Files

This can include temporary files, your browser cache, log files, help files,
etc. Some categories are perfectly safe. Most temporary files are meant to be
just that. An example would include files used temporarily during a program
installation that are no longer needed once the installation is complete. As
a rule of thumb, files ending in “.tmp” are generally safe to delete.
Your browser cache holds a type of temporary files that may be emptied at any
time with no ill effects. Many “log” files are useless, but installation
log files are necessary in the event you want to uninstall the program. Many
help files are superfluous, though it pays to be careful with those.

The chief problem facing users who want to do a little hard drive cleanup is
that it is difficult in some cases to accurately determine what is junk and
what is not. That is where a disk-cleaning program can be invaluable. They are
generally designed to err on the side of caution, while eliminating the obvious
clutter.

The Answers

We offered the members at Short-Media nine different programs to choose from,
plus the option to write-in a favorite not on the list. Surprisingly, only two
of the nine choices offered received votes.

Norton CleanSweep

Coming in a close second to our surprise winner was Norton CleanSweep, a component
of Norton System Works ($69.95 Std; $99.95 Pro). It allows you to uninstall
individual programs in a manner similar to the Windows Disk Cleanup tool, but
with the added security of backing up the program in case you change your mind.
My favorite feature is the Fast & Safe Cleanup tool, which after a quick
scan deletes browser cache files, temp files, and empties your recycle bin all
in one shot.

Norton CleanSweep also allows you to remove the dreck you pick up while browsing
the Internet. With several different categories to choose from, it is easy to
customize your pruning adventures to eliminate browser plug-ins, cookies, ActiveX
controls, and more.

Another nice feature is the Backup Wizard. It allows you to create a compressed
backup of a program for added security. If one day you find that a program you
rely on has suddenly gone cockeyed, a backup can get you back in business quickly
and painlessly.

Windows Disk Cleanup

Our winner was the Disk Cleanup tool included with Windows. It does a good
job, is safe to use, and has the added advantage of being free. It can be found
in the System Tools section of your Start Menu.

As you can see, the windows Disk Cleanup tool finds junk files in several different
categories. It is also easy to get rid of files that do not fit the definition
of junk, but may be unnecessary. This would include optional Windows components
(for instance, you may not ever play Minesweeper – why let it take up
space on your drive?), other (Non-Windows) programs you don’t use, and
old System Restore points.

If all you need is a basic drive-cleaning tool, Windows Disk Cleanup does a
good job and doesn’t require you to pay for a third-party program.

Member Comments:

“I tend to use a variety of different programs, but I guess more often
than not, I use the bog standard Microsoft Windows Disk Cleanup. However just
recently I have also been using Winner Tweak’s file cleanup utility, however
like I said Disk Cleanup gets my vote.”

“Windows Disk Cleanup combined with repeated iterations of Windows Disk
Defragmenter until I’m satisfied with the results, and occasionally the use
of Scandisk with all boxes checked”

Other Methods

Any “One-Button” type of drive cleaning program requires some compromise
on the part of the user; you trade convenience for customization. Advanced users
are not likely to be fully satisfied with the preset choices available in an
off-the-rack cleaning tool.

I personally cannot tolerate anything in the root of my C: drive which does
not absolutely need to be there. When I see the potpourri of pictures, text
files, executables, temp files, etc., found on most computers it makes me want
to roll up my sleeves and get out the figurative scrub brush. The junk needs
to be eliminated; the valuable files relocated. My C: drive looks like this:

Performing a search using “wildcards” is another good way of finding
files you don’t want cluttering up your drive. Wildcards will find every
file of a given type. For instance, a search for “*.tmp” will turn
up every .tmp file on your computer, regardless of the individual file name,
avoiding an endless folder-by-folder search. I like to periodically search for
“*.jpg” “*.doc” and other file types I know I’ll
want to keep, and move them to an appropriate folder.

If you are running WinXP, navigate to C:Documents and SettingsusernameLocal
SettingsTemp and delete as much as you can. You probably won’t be able
to remove everything; Windows will tell you it can’t delete one Perflib_Perfdata_xxx.dat
and one .tmp file because they are currently in use. In Win98 and earlier, go
to C:WindowsTemp and clean out anything more than a week old.

Finally, be careful. Don’t be in a big rush to empty your Recycle Bin
until you are sure everything is running properly. It’s much easier to
restore a wrongly deleted file than it is to recreate it. A nice tidy hard drive
will make your computing experience better, but as with anything in life, too
much of a good thing can be a problem. The cleanest drive partition you’ll
ever have is immediately after “Format C:” but that is not really
a practical solution as a weekly maintenance procedure for most of us. As always,
anytime you set out to tune up your computer it pays to make sure beforehand
that you have everything important backed up in a secure location.