Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft Windows XP in 24 Hours

By Greg Perry

• Table of Contents
  • Copyright
  • About the Author
  • Acknowledgments
  • Tell Us What You Think!
  • Introduction
  • Part I: Wake Up with Windows XP
  • Hour 1. Taking a Bird's-Eye Look at Windows XP
  • Hour 2. Getting Started with Windows XP
  • Hour 3. Managing the Windows XP Interface
  • Part II: Morning Windows Desktop Exploration
  • Hour 4. Working with the My Computer Window
  • Hour 5. Navigating Files with Windows Explorer
  • Hour 6. Calling for Help
  • Hour 7. Improving Your Windows Desktop Experience
  • Part III: Early Afternoon Windows Exploration
  • Hour 8. Installing Programs with Windows XP
  • Hour 9. Finding Files, Folders, and Friends
  • Hour 10. Using the Desktop Accessories
  • Part IV: Late Afternoon Internet Integration
  • Hour 11. Surfing the Web with Internet Explorer
  • Hour 12. Tying Windows into the Web
  • Hour 13. Networking with Windows XP
  • Hour 14. Managing E-mail and Newsgroups with Outlook Express
  • Part V: An Evening with Advanced Windows
  • Hour 15. Exploring Your Hardware Interface
  • Hour 16. Understanding Printing and Fonts
  • Hour 17. Using Windows on the Road
  • Hour 18. Giving Windows XP a Tune-Up
  • Hour 19. Managing Your Hard Drives
    • Fill In the Holes
    • Cleaning Up Your Disk
    • Back Up Often
    • Summary
    • Q&A
    • Workshop
  • Hour 20. Tinkering with the Advanced System Tools
  • Part VI: Having Fun at Nighttime
  • Hour 21. Using Media Player
  • Hour 22. Picturing Windows XP Graphics
  • Hour 23. Making Movies with Windows XP
  • Hour 24. Advanced Windows XP Tips
  • Part VII: Appendixes
  • Appendix A. Differences Between the Windows Home and Professional Edition
  • Appendix B. Glossary
  • Appendix C. Answers to Quizzes

Cleaning Up Your Disk

Disk Cleanup is a utility program that comes with Windows XP that enables you to free your disk drives of clutter and make more space available. Over time, your disk drives fill with temporary files and other information that you don't need to retain. Disk Cleanup can keep your free space at a maximum.

The following To Do item explains how to use Disk Cleanup to remove clutter from your drive.

To Do: Using Disk Cleanup

1. Display the Start menu and select All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Cleanup. The Disk Cleanup window shown in Figure 19.3 appears.
2. Often, your Recycle Bin holds files that you no longer want. Disk Cleanup offers to delete all the files from your Recycle Bin. First, you can click the View Files button to open your Recycle Bin window and review everything there.
3. If you want to delete the files from your Recycle Bin, click the check mark next to the Disk Cleanup's Recycle Bin option.
4. Windows XP includes an indexing feature that operates when you search for data. Old searches might include indexes created but never deleted. If you have index files still left on your computer after searching for data recently, you can check that option as well from the Disk Cleanup window to remove the index files.
   

   Figure 19.3 Determine the kinds of files you want to clean.

5. Before starting the Disk Cleanup process, click the More Options tab to display the Disk Cleanup options window shown in Figure 19.4.
   

   Figure 19.4 Disk Cleanup offers to clean up several areas of your disk drive.

6. The Windows components section of the Disk Cleanup window enables you to remove parts of your Windows XP installation to gain more disk storage. Although such a move only buys time temporarily (see the following tip), you might have installed Windows components that you rarely use. Click the Clean Up button to see the Windows Components Wizard window shown in Figure 19.5.

   A check mark next to any of the Windows components indicates that the option is installed. You can click on an option and then click the Details button to read more about several of the Windows components.

Figure 19.5 You might be able to remove some Windows XP components to gain disk space.

7. If you decide to remove a Windows XP component that you do not need, such as the games installed with Windows XP (found in the Details section of the Accessories and Utilities section), uncheck that option. You can continue looking through the list of installed Windows XP components, unchecking all the options you don't need. When you click Next, Windows XP will remove those items from your system and free the disk space before returning to the Disk Cleanup window.

8. The Installed Programs section of the Disk Cleanup window offers to remove programs you no longer need that you previously installed. Clicking the Clean Up button in the Installed Programs section produces the Add or Remove Programs window, such as the one shown in Figure 19.6.

   

   Figure 19.6 You might be able to remove some application programs that you no longer use to gain disk space.

   To remove a program, click to highlight that program's entry in the window and click the Add/Remove button that appears. The program's uninstall process will begin and remove the application from your system. (Hour 8, "Installing Programs with Windows XP," explains in more detail the benefits and pitfalls of application installation and removal.) After the application is removed, you'll be returned to the Disk Cleanup window.

9. The System Restore section of the Disk Cleanup window enables you to remove your most recent system restore point. As Hour 20, "Tinkering with the Advanced System Tools," explains, you can take a snapshot of your Windows XP system before installing new hardware and software and return to that former state if the installation goes awry and causes other problems to occur. If you want to forego the ability to restore your system to a previously working state, you can remove all the stored system restore states except for the most recent state.

   When you click the Clean Up button of the Disk Cleanup's System Restore section, Windows XP displays the warning message shown in Figure 19.7.

Figure 19.7 Disk Cleanup ensures that you want to remove all but the most recent system restoration points.

10. After you have cleaned up as much of your disk as possible, you can close the Disk Cleanup window and continue working.

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