In the first installment of this series on easing your frustrations over a slow booting and sluggish computer, (other than strapping it to the bumper of your car and ramming it into a tree), Orphie discussed trimming the fat from the "system startup." In this article, Orphie is going to let you in on something, all Microsoft Windows Operating System are "OBSESSIVE/COMPULSIVE HOARDERS." They keep every kind of file imaginable. Some of these files are valuable and necessary for proper system operation. But then there are those files that are outright "JUNK," temp files, logs and various forms of browser bloat that can surprisingly accumulate very quickly but which overtime will certainly build up to massive quantities filling up every nook and cranny of available file storage space. Adding to this "congenital disorder" of any MS Windows OS is the fact that a lot of "Users" are also compulsive "File Hoarders," collecting Giga Bytes of trial software, useless browser tool bars, multiple copies of documents and pictures, fonts, redundant "back ups" embedded within redundant "back ups," or massive music collections they could never listen to in a life time. Just imagine the condition of a house plagued by 2 such "HABITUALLY OBSESSED HOARDERS." As your computer becomes cluttered with such "file debris," its performance will suffer tremendously. In this article, Orphie discuses correcting a bogged-down system and the sluggish performance that accompanies it through: "FILE HOARDING INTERVENTION!"

This particular subject if covered thoroughly would be a very long read indeed. So Orphie will just briefly go over the basics.

1) Temporary Internet files
Every single web page you ever go to while surfing the Internet is made up of an assortment of files that include images, Style Sheets and various scripts. Windows downloads all of these files to your Hard Drive and stores them in a cache called the "Temporary Internet Folder" that is buried in the User’s "profile." When you go back to a particular web site, your "Internet Browser" (IE, Chrome, Fire Fox) will now resolve or "draw" that page from these stored files downloading only information that has changed since your last visit. If you have multiple Users on your computer, and each of them has their own login profile, then there is a Temporary Internet Folder created for each of them. There is another cache that Window creates for Web Sites as well called "Cookies" that every site you visit will "drop" a cookie into, and no, these don’t go well with milk or coffee. Cookies are simply a piece of data designed to allow a Web Site to "remember" what you have done on that site in the past. Again, there is a Cookie cache for every User profile on your computer.
Contrary to the title "Temporary," these files actually reside permanently on your computer until they are "purged." Over time, the accumulation of these files can be massive.

2) Temporary Files
This is yet another Windows cache of files created for and by the programs you run on your computer. These files can be necessary for the programs to do what you would like them to do, but when it is done with them or you shut the program down, these files are generally not deleted and are left behind accumulating over time to take up huge amounts of Hard Drive space.

3) Other Caches
Windows is an anal obsessive compulsive hoarder. It contains numerous caches to "remember" things like documents you have opened, the position of a desktop window when it was last opened and log files about what has been done and how its been done.

4) Download Folder
In any users "Document Folder" you will find a "Download Folder." By default, this is where any document, installation executable and various other items you ever download from the Internet is stored. There are exceptions but generally once you are done with these items you will never need them again. But there they stay, taking up file space.

5) Unused Programs
Every program on your computer takes up file space. If they are never used, these files serve no better purpose other than to contribute to the clutter.

6) Personal File Archives
Every document you create is permanently stored in your "My Documents Folder." There are sub-folders, "My Pictures," "My Videos," "My Music" and "My eBooks." This is where the User’s Hoarding comes into play.
With the advent of large capacity Hard Drives, User’s have become accustomed to keeping everything imaginable in these folders whether they every actually need them or will get around to using them or not. We all do it, it’s convenient and comforting to have all this "information" at our instant command. But all of these files take up space. Orphie has found "My Music" folders containing as much as 100GB of music files. Really? If each of those file were played individually in sequence it would take years to hear them all! Not only that, but it is not unusual to find that there are multiple redundant "iTunes Libraries" all containing the same or very similar collections of music and artwork.
But, "So what? " you ask. "I have an 800GB Hard Drive. What difference does it make if I keep all of these files? I have plenty of room! " This may be true, but you may have a three car garage too, filled wall to wall, floor to ceiling with box after box, pile after pile of “great stuff.” You want to hang a picture so you need a hammer and nails. You think you know where these things are out in the garage but guess what? You end up looking through every single box and pile before you find them.
The time it takes for your Hard Drive to establish what "address" your files are located at and then reach them for retrieval can be absolutely lethargic due to the shear amount of files that need to be sorted trough. This impacts everything your computer needs to do, and everything your programs (including your OS) need to do. All of these files serve to slow down your computer.

"Temporary" Caches need to be purged. Unused Programs need to be uninstalled. Personal Archives need to be reasonably cleaned out and/or moved to a location other then your computer. If you commit to dong these things as a matter of routine maintenance, you computer will run much better and cause you far less stress.

There multiple very good reasons for "File Hoarding Intervention" and as always Orphie is willing and ready to help. If you have questions you can ask them here. If you don’t feel comfortable dealing with this issue on your own, we can remote into your computer and give you direct assistance. Our aim is to instruct you as you watch what we do so that going forward you can be enabled to do this on your own with confidence.

If you have questions or feel that you would like our assistance, contact us today.

Back to Part 1: TRIMMING THE FAT FROM YOUR COMPUTER’S "SYSTEM STARTUP."
Jump to Part 3: "FILE OR DISK FRAGMENTATION"