Who does not know the situation - a huge amount of photos, many hundreds of music tracks and the usual data from work. It doesn't take long and the hard drive is jam-packed.

For this reason, you should clean up your PC regularly so as not to lose control over programs and data. This frees up memory space and improves the performance of the computer.

 

Remove unnecessary data

From time to time you should check which software programs you have on the hard drive and which you actually need. On PCs with a Windows operating system, you can uninstall unnecessary software in the start menu under "Control Panel / Uninstall programs" and in this way create memory again.

If you have purchased a new PC, a certain number of software programs will already be installed. You may not need this and it slows down the computer. It is also beneficial to see if you have multiple programs doing the same job.

Tip: With so many programs nowadays, it's impossible to be familiar with all of them. If in doubt, contact an expert and have them examine the computer. 

Of course, you can also rely on additional storage space and purchase an additional external hard drive. at external-festplatte.com you will find extensive, precisely researched and comprehensive information on this topic. As an independent consumer portal, the focus is on making the personal purchase decision easier by providing detailed and competent advice to interested parties.

Tip: Sometimes the storage media of the computer are limited or the data material does not offer many possibilities to gain space. In such cases, the best option is to purchase additional storage media.

 

Disk cleanup and freeware

With Windows 7, you can select "Start / All Programs / Accessories / System Programs" to clean up the data carrier and thus clean the computer. The utility will search the selected drives and select files that you can remove to regain more space.

These include temporary files, the contents of the recycle bin or setup files that are left over from older installations. You can also use tools available on the Internet to clean your computer. One of them is the "CCleaner", which removes garbage data and creates space.

Info: Of course, operating systems such as Windows 8, 10, Windows Vista or operating systems from other manufacturers such as APPLE are mostly preinstalled on computers. On the Internet you can easily find the right instructions for the respective operating system in order to clean up the data carriers of your own computer.

 

Take into account the autostart

When you clean your computer, you should also check startup - this is where you'll find all the software programs that run automatically when the computer starts and that can slow down the startup process significantly.

If you are using Vista or Windows 7, you can enter "msconfig" in the start menu and start the program. Under the "Startup" tab, check the box in front of those applications that should not be started at startup. It is important that you keep programs activated for the security of the system, such as the virus scanner.

 

system recovery

In order not to stress your computer, you should examine the system restore data. Because Windows sets memory locations so that you can reactivate earlier file versions in the event of the worst. These are called up by right-clicking on "Computer" in the start menu, selecting "Properties" and going to "Computer protection".

If you want to use system recovery, you should define the maximum amount of memory this function should use - experts recommend four gigabytes as a suitable value. If you deactivate the function completely, you should definitely carry out a manual data backup on a regular basis.

Info: In order to save the data on the computer, a backup should be carried out at regular intervals. You can do this in the control panel or use programs from the Internet for it.

 

Put on removable disk

Store essential files on removable storage. This is recommended regardless of System Restore. Sometimes data can be lost or it is not enough just to clean up the computer. One If the worst comes to the worst, data recovery is costly and time-consuming.

Photo: Pixabay.com, © janeb13, CC0 1.0

 

Windows: create storage space

Uninstall any programs you don't need. Open the control panel and select “Uninstall a program” under “Programs”.

It is advisable to sort the programs according to their size. Click "Size". For tools that require several gigabytes of storage space, you should consider whether you need the program.

Photo and videos take up a lot of storage space. It is therefore worth moving pictures and videos to external storage media. Alternatively, you can also save some things online using cloud services.

A lot of valuable information on the subject of data sharing can also be found on the Internet, for example at Microsoft: Tips for freeing up space on the pc

 

Hard drive full - These tools will clean up

Corresponding tools are of course also offered on the Internet:

• To remove duplicate files from your PC, use the free Duplicate Cleaner software. Especially with music collections, it often happens that some files are duplicated on the hard drive.
• You can remove cache files, old registry entries and many other data hogs with the freeware CCleaner.
• If you have a lot of programs that you want to remove, Absolute Uninstaller can be used conveniently. The tool allows the deinstallation of several programs at the same time. The registry entries and the autostart links are also removed.
• Recover data in Windows 8
• To restore files from scratch, we recommend the free Recuva tool.
• Once installed, a wizard will guide you through the recovery process.
• After the end of the search, you will see all the recoverable files in a list.
• After selecting the files you want, click on "Restore".

If you are unable to recover the data, try PC Inspector File Recovery.

 Photo: Pixabay.com, © bohed, CC0 1.0

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This tip comes from www.win-tipps-tweaks.de
© Copyright Michael Hille

Warning:
Using Registry Editor or its tips incorrectly can cause serious system problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Tampering with the registry files and using the tips is at your own risk.