Below are five easy actions that you can perform on your PC to keep it running fast and in working order.

Free Up Hard Drive Space

One of the quickest ways to clean your computer this spring is to remove any large files hogging your valuable drive space.  Removing these files are easy, if you can find them.  One piece of software that will help you find large files on your hard drive is WinDirStat.  WinDirStat scans your hard drive and created a visual representation of stored files.  Read more about WinDirStat in our guide.

Another piece of software that will analyze your stored files is DiskSpaceFan.  DiskSpaceFan performs much like WinDirStat in that it creates a visual representation of the files on your storage devices.  Although the visualization of DiskSpaceFan is different than WinDirStat, it provides a clean and simple user interface.  We wrote a guide about DiskSpaceFan as well.

Remove Unnecessary Temporary Files

Once of the best things you can do for your PC  is to remove hidden temporary files.  Temporary files are created on your PC by pretty much anything you do, from browsing the internet to installing software.  Often times these temporary files do not get properly removed and can build up, taking valuable drive space and slowing down your computer.

CCleaner is a great piece of software that will assist you in removing unnecessary temporary files and other unused system files.  CCleaner looks specifically in directories where temporary files are stored and often left behind.  It’s not uncommon to free gigabytes of space when using CCleaner.  Read our guide about CCleaner for more information.

Defrag Your Hard Drive

As more files are added to your hard drive, or existing files grow and shrink, they will become fragmented – basically split into multiple pieces.  A fragmented file system means that you hard drive is going to make more reads to put together all of  the different pieces of the file.  With older versions of Windows, it was necessary to manually defrag your file system.  The newest versions of Windows automatically defrag your drives at a pre-determined time, keeping your filesystem in top shape.

Since not everyone is wild about the built-in Windows defrag, there are a couple of free alternatives that just might do the job for you.  Defraggler and Auslogics Disk Defrag are two pieces of software that I’ve previously used as a Windows defrag replacement.

Remove Unused Programs

Installing too much software is an easy way to really slow down your PC.  As more software is installed, you lose disk space, create temporary files, and clutter your registry.  Removing unused software can greatly increase your PC’s performance.

If you’re running Windows XP, navigate to Start > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs to see what software you currently have installed.  Checking the last used date is an easy way to tell how often you really use that piece of software. Click the software’s Remove button to uninstall it from your system.

Windows Vista/7 users can navigate to Start > Control Panel > Programs and Features to see what software is currently installed.  Again, clicking the uninstall button will remove the software from your system.

Another easy way to remove software on all versions of Windows is to use Revo Uninstaller.  Revo Uninstaller allows you to easily remove software from your PC.  Revo Uninstaller will do a thorough job too, removing registry entries and other temporary files associated with the software you are removing.  Read more about Revo Uninstaller in our guide.

Blow It Out

While the above steps focus on cleaning your operating system and other files, cleaning your physical computer is a step that is often overlooked.

The inside of your PC contains fans that keep the internal components cool.  While these fans draw in fresh air for your PC, they also bring in dust and other particles.  Over time, the dust and other particles build up on your fans and heat sinks and cause a decrease in your PC’s ability to cool itself.  Blowing out your PC can reduce noise as well, as the fans will spin slower once all dust is removed.

Note: The following steps should only be performed if you feel comfortable opening your PC’s case.

Start by turning off your PC and disconnecting all of the cords from it, paying attention to the connections, and take it to a well ventilated area.  Taking the cover off your PC is easy – it often only requires removing a couple screws.  Once the cover is removed, blow out the fans, heat sinks, and all other areas of the case.  When all dust has been removed, replace the cover and reconnect all the cables.

If you want to see what effect blowing out your PC has on temperatures and fan speeds, install and run temperature monitoring software before you blow your PC out.  Most motherboard manufactures have their own temperature monitoring software free to download.

Speedfan is another great fan and temperature monitoring software that is free to download.  (Read more about Speedfan in our guide.)  Check your temperatures and fan speeds before and after your clean out your PC and see what a difference it makes.

Performing the above steps on your PC this Spring will help to keep it running smoothly.  Have any other Spring cleaning tips for your PC?  Let us know by commenting below!

Photo credit: bitterjug

The post 5 Easy Ways To Give Your PC The Spring Cleaning It Deserves first appeared on Techerator.

To start, download WinDirStat from http://windirstat.info/.  You can select either the installation download or the standalone executable.  When first running the program, you are asked to select the location that you wish to analyze: All Local Drives, An Individual Drive, or An Individual Folder.  Once the location has been selected, click Ok to begin the drive analysis.  When the analysis has completed, your screen will look like this:

Now that WinDirStat has analyzed your hard drive, you can review the largest blocks in the diagram.  The largest blocks are large files.  By left clicking on a block, it will show the file name and location in the tree above.  If the file is taking up space and can be deleted, you can simply right click the file name and delete the file.

You can also left click a folder in the tree and it will highlight the space that the folder takes up, as shown below:

Once you have found the files that you wish to remove, and have removed them, it is important that you empty your Recycle Bin to make sure that all files were deleted.

If, after running WinDirStat, you were not able to find the cause of your low disk space, I would recommend running CCleaner to check for any temporary files that may be taking space.  [Checkout our guide on CCleaner here.]

Important final note: It is important to pay close attention to the files that you are removing so as not to remove any system files.  Removing critical files could cause you system to become inoperable.

What has been your experience with WinDirStat?  Is there another program that you would recommend that will do the same task?  Let us know by commenting below.

The post How To: Find Large Files On Your Hard Drive With WinDirStat first appeared on Techerator.

1) Upgrade your web browser

Upgrading your web browser is one of the best things you can do for your PC in the new year.  Believe it or not, many people are still using Internet Explorer 6 which is almost 10 years old.  An updated web browser is one of your first lines of defense against the malicious activities that occur on the internet.  Below are a couple of web browsers that you could upgrade to.

Firefox

If you looking for a customizable, stable and secure web browser, then Firefox is for you.  Having an extensive collection of add-ons to customize your browser makes Firefox a great alternative to Internet Explorer.  Firefox is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux users.

Chrome

The newest competitor to the browser market, Google Chrome boasts superior Javascript performance over other browsers.  With the recent announcements of extensions for Chrome as well as beta versions of the browser for Mac and Linux users, Chrome has become a viable alternative to Internet Explorer.

2) Creating a testing environment

One way that your PC becomes slow and cluttered is from the parts of programs which remain on your hard drive after uninstalling the software.  Having a secondary PC for testing software and applications would be ideal, but not everyone has access to that luxury.

Setting up a virtual machine allows you to have a guest operating system running in a host operating system.  A virtual machine will allow you to install software without it affecting the operating system of your host computer.  Take a look here for some more information on what a virtual machine is and how to get started using one.  I also wrote an in-depth guide on installing Windows 7 on a virtual machine.

3) Change your anti-virus software

It is important to have updated anti-virus software installed on your PC to defend against viruses and other malicious software that thrives on the internet.  Many users are unaware whether their anti-virus software is updated and running properly.  This often occurs when 30-day trails or paid yearly subscriptions run out.  Switching to a free anti-virus solution will help to save money and keep your PC secure.  Listed below are some great free anti-virus alternatives.

• Microsoft Security Essentials
• avast! Home Edition
• AVG Free
• Avira AntiVir

4) Free-up space on your hard drive

With years of use, your PC’s hard drive can become cluttered with remnants of old software, duplicate files, and unnecessary software installers.  Removing these extra files can free-up space on your hard drive.  Below are a couple of programs that can assist with this.

WinDirStat

Running WinDirStat on your PC will give you a visual representation of the files on your hard drive.  This will allow you to easily spot large files and remove the outdated and unnecessary ones.  Read my guide for more information on using WinDirStat.

CCleaner

CCleaner will allow you to clean Cookies, Temporary Internet Files, History and Search results from all popular web browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, and Safari, along with temporary files from Windows and other third-party applications.  To find out more about CCleaner, read my guide.

5) Backup your files

Your computer has crashed, now what?  If you have backups, it’s no big deal.  Keeping a backup of your important files will make restoring your computer much easier.

Dropbox

Dropbox is a great way to keep a backup of your important files.  Offering 2 GB with the free version, Dropbox allows you to sync your files with other computers and devices such as the iPhone.  Read more about Dropbox here.

SyncToy

SyncToy is another way to keep backups of your important files by using a free application from Microsoft to copy, move, rename, and delete files between storage devices or computers quickly and easily.  Read our guide on SyncToy for more information.

These are just some of the things you can do for your PC in the New Year.  If you have any other suggestions, let us know in the comments below.

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