Computer Clutter

[MtnPictures]

Over the two or so years that I have had my computer, well my older one. I've cluttered my hard drive up. I've download and installed many programs and things, and then later just deleting them and all. But I've noticed that there are alot of little bits and pieces of then all still on my computer. Also in my attempt to keep everything neatly organized, I have become even more unorganized. So I'm wanting to clean up my computer, but how should I go about it? Should I do a reformat or is there a program up there that would clean up my hard drive without doing a reformat? Thanks in advance.

[Torin_Darkflight]

The most effective method would be a reformat and reinstall of everything. Make sure you backup all your files to CD or DVD before doing this though. Yes, you could possibly go through and manually remove stuff you know you don't need, but there's no way to get every little bit using this method.

By the way, if you do decide to go the reformat and reinstall route, one thing that's recommended is to create separate partitions, one for the OS and installed programs, the other for your personal files. Thus, if the need to reformat ever arises again, all of your data will be safe on the second partition while you reformat and reinstall on the first one.

Oh, and another way to help reduce or prevent excess clutter is to do scheduled reformats and reinstalls of Windows as part of your general maintenance. Although personal opinions may vary regarding how often, I've always recommended that this be done once every year or two.

[MrBill]

The most effective method would be a reformat and reinstall of everything. Make sure you backup all your files to CD or DVD before doing this though. Yes, you could possibly go through and manually remove stuff you know you don't need, but there's no way to get every little bit using this method.

By the way, if you do decide to go the reformat and reinstall route, one thing that's recommended is to create separate partitions, one for the OS and installed programs, the other for your personal files. Thus, if the need to reformat ever arises again, all of your data will be safe on the second partition while you reformat and reinstall on the first one.

Oh, and another way to help reduce or prevent excess clutter is to do scheduled reformats and reinstalls of Windows as part of your general maintenance. Although personal opinions may vary regarding how often, I've always recommended that this be done once every year or two.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Have you tried a program like CrapCleaner? This will get rid of a lot of stuff for you. Crap Cleaner

[JDoors]

If I understand where you're at at this point, just using utilities that delete temp files and such won't cut it. There are no totally reliable utilities that can decide for you what files you wish to keep and which you can get rid of, there are too many potential problems with that. For example, you may have some leftover folders from programs you no longer use, those folders may contain only a file or two, but no utility can decide for certain whether those files are needed elsewhere or not (some utilities try, but it's tricky).

So you wind up with three choices; Manually root out everything that's not needed (lots o' work, including some guesswork), use utilities that do this (easy until you take into consideration that this may leave you with an unstable system), or do the reformat/reinstall routine (also needs lot o' work).

It's possible you'd be happy with just a defrag.

[jkrs]

So you wind up with three choices; Manually root out everything that's not needed (lots o' work, including some guesswork), use utilities that do this (easy until you take into consideration that this may leave you with an unstable system), or do the reformat/reinstall routine (also needs lot o' work).

It's possible you'd be happy with just a defrag.     

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I guess not doing maintenance tasks on time can lead to fewer options when things get out of hand. I think a diskcleanup and defragmentation must be done regularly bfore the HD space starts running out. But i guess most pple postpone it as it takes a long time as also the botheration of doing it manually. An automatic defragger wud help in such cases as it can be set to do the job..and faster too. Also a good registry cleaner will help to clean up crap that settles back and slows down things even more. Needless to say thorough spyware scans too.

[xxkbxx]

Burn some CD's with what files you need, enough drivers to get online, and make sure you have copies of your software to install once the hard drive is wiped. If you have your XP (or any other OS) CD reformatting is the way to go, and it's not difficult at all.

[JDoors]

... reformatting is the way to go, and it's not difficult at all.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I had to do that recently and one awkward part was getting safely online. I subscribe to security software (auto-updates & installs online) so I don't have a CD with that stuff on it, you can't really back it up as it installs deep into Windows' registry, etc., so I wound up going online and downloading everything while I had no protection. What's a better way? Order a CD before you begin?