| Is your computer as fast as the first day, when you | | | | percentage of drive or folder size or by file count. |
| purchased it or the speed has dropped without any | | | | Results are ordered numerically by default, but can |
| reason? Are you receiving messages about low | | | | be sorted alphabetically if you prefer clicking the |
| memory? Are you tired of your computer being so | | | | appropriate menu button. |
| slow and trying to find a way to speed it up. | | | | For examining the results, look for large blocks of |
| PC speed can be affected by many things, but one | | | | memory being used by programs or files that don't |
| of the largest factors is deficiency of computer | | | | add up. You can then mouse over any files that you |
| storage space. While your PC may have had lots of | | | | can not recognize, and search for clues in the details. |
| memory when you purchased it, that capacity begins | | | | Enlarge the folders as far as they go looking for |
| going down simply through regular use. Most of the | | | | documents that may point to the parent program. |
| time this creeps up slowly, and it can be difficult to | | | | To see the documents more easily clicking the |
| find out where all that memory went. | | | | open-folder icon and it will open the file in Windows |
| There is a free program called TreeSize and it checks | | | | Explorer. |
| the memory usage on your PC. It scans your PC and | | | | Go to "Add/Remove Programs" in the control panel |
| gives you a list of how much memory each program | | | | and uninstall the old files that are no longer in use and |
| or file is taking up. This program allows you to easily | | | | have piled up. Temp files can often be deleted safely |
| locate memory "hogs" and retrieve some of that | | | | to free up more memory. If you do decide to |
| precious space. The program is freeware designed to | | | | remove or delete anything, be sure to make a |
| work on Windows 2000/Vista/XP. An earlier version | | | | backup copy or wait a few weeks to empty the |
| works on systems using Windows 9x/ME. The | | | | recycle bin so that if a problem comes up and you |
| program requires 2.1 Megabyte of free space to | | | | need to restore that file you still have a copy of it. |
| install. | | | | You can transfer the seldom-used files and programs |
| Once you download and install this program, an icon | | | | to other drives or archived on external storage. Most |
| shows up on your desktop. The program launches | | | | users save their music and pictures in the "My |
| from the desktop shortcut and opens a blank | | | | Documents" folder. Actually it gets saved by default |
| window with two menu Bars at the top. Selecting | | | | and it tends to take up lots of memory. Some of |
| the "Scan" button drops down a list of available | | | | those records that you rarely open can be moved |
| drives on your system. Once you select a drive, the | | | | and it will give you big chunk of space. |
| scan begins. The folder icon will open a browser panel | | | | You might have created some daily back up folders |
| from which a specific folder can be chosen. Clicking | | | | or logs but have not deleted the previous edition. |
| "OK" starts the scan process. | | | | After some time all these logs swell up and take up |
| As the memory scan is in progress, mousing over | | | | the memory space. Always check before deleting or |
| any displayed sub folder will pop up an information | | | | removing something. |
| panel showing details of that item. When scanning is | | | | Once you have completed cleaning up or deleting any |
| complete, folders can be expanded as needed to | | | | unused files and moving some of the programs, run |
| show exactly how much memory each area is using. | | | | another scan to see how much memory space you |
| By default, memory is shown in megabytes. Buttons | | | | have gained. You can also print the reports. Scanning |
| along the top menu bar allow viewing options of KB | | | | on a regular basis will make future problems stand |
| (kilobytes), MB (megabytes), GB (gigabytes), or | | | | out easily, and they can be handled before |
| automatic selection of units based on file size. | | | | performance suffers. |
| Other display modes let you see memory usage as a | | | | |