How to Get More Space on Your PC

Summary

Here are four easy tutorials to get more space on your PC. I recommend you do these about every three months for a healthier computer.

• Organize My Documents
• Remove Programs
• Disk Cleanup
• Disk Defragmenter

The “Do it” tutorials are step by step instructions for Windows XP users.

Organize My Documents

About

The “My Documents” folder is where most computers store the big files, which are music, pictures and movies. Organizing and removing old files is the most effective way to free up space on your PC.

If you still need more hard drive space, put the large files on an External Hard Drive and then remove the originals from your computer.

Do it

Estimated time: 15 minutes

1. Go to Start > My Documents.
2. Look at the files you have. Double click on some folders to see what’s in them, particularly My Music, My Pictures and My Videos.
3. Right Click on files or folders you know you do not need and select “Delete” to remove them. You may remove files you do not recognize, but you risk messing up some programs.
4. Click “Create New Folder” inside My Documents, and move some related files in it. Right Click on the new folder and “Rename” it so that it
   describes the files you put in it (a date or category). The idea is to make it easy to find later.
5. Repeat Step 4 until your files are organized to your liking.

How big is this file or folder?

Right Click on a file or folder and select “Properties” to see how big it is.

Word and Excel files only use few kilobytes. Pictures and songs are usually several megabytes. Movies can take up to a gigabyte of space.

1000 bytes = 1 kilobyte
1000 kilobytes = 1 megabyte
1000 megabytes = 1 gigabyte

Remove Programs

About

Your computer may be filled with programs you never use. These programs (especially games) can take up a lot of hard-disk space.

Some programs startup automatically as background processes, slowing down your computer without your permission.

Do it

Estimated time: 5 minutes.

1. Go to Start > Control Panel
2. Click “Add or Remove Programs “
3. Scroll down the list of installed programs. Notice on the right of each program it shows the program size
   and how often it is used.
4. Click on a program you recognize and would like to remove. Click the [Remove] button that appears and it will run
   the uninstaller.
5. Repeat Step 4 to remove all of the programs you want. Do not remove progams you do not recognize.
6. Restart your computer. You’re done.

Disk Cleanup

About

This tool analyzes your computer and gives you some options to cleanup disk space. This program deletes temporary files, internet files, and empties the Recycle Bin. You can easily free up a couple gigabytes of space this way. Feel free to explore the “More Options” tab, but its not as useful as the “Disc Cleanup” tab.

Do it

Estimated time: 5 minutes.

1. Go to Start > Program Files > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup.
2. Wait about 1 minute for the tool to analyze your computer.
3. Check all of the options EXCEPT the two called “Compress old files” and “Catalog files for the Content Indexer”.
4. Press OK and then confirm Yes.
5. Wait about 2 minutes while it frees up space on your computer. The program will close itself when its done.

Disk Defragmenter

About

Defragmenting reorganizes the system’s memory so that your computer will be able to retreive files faster. It does not actually increase your hard-disk space, but it is a healthy thing to do periodically, especially after moving a ton of files around.

Analyzing Your Drive

• (good) – Whole files using disk space efficiently.
• (good) – Important files that the defragmenter does not touch.
• (bad) – Parts of files that need to be defragmented.
• (good) – Empty space on your computer.

Do it

Estmated time: 10 minutes.

1. Go to Start > Program Files > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter.
2. Click [Analyze] and it will tell you if you need to defragment.
3. Click [Defragment] to defragment your computer. You can do this even if it says you don’t need to.
4. Surf the web until it’s done (about 5 minutes, possibly longer). You can see how well it worked afterwards.
5. Close the “Disk Defragmenter” window. Congratulations, you defragmented your hard-drive!

Conclusion

These are quick and simple things you should do about every three months to maximize computer space and keep your computer healthy.