Absolute Beginners Guide to Computer Basics (2nd Edition)

Even with today's humongous hard disks, you can still end up with too many useless files taking up too much hard disk space. Fortunately, Windows XP includes a utility that identifies and deletes unused files. The Disk Cleanup tool is what you want to use when you need to free up extra hard disk space for more frequently used files.

To use Disk Cleanup, follow these steps:

1. Click the Start button to display the Start menu.

2. Select All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Cleanup.

3. Disk Cleanup starts and automatically analyzes the contents of your hard disk drive.

4. When Disk Cleanup is finished analyzing, it presents its results in the Disk Cleanup dialog box, shown in Figure 9.1.

   Figure 9.1. Use Disk Cleanup to delete unused files from your hard disk.

5. Select the Disk Cleanup tab.

6. You now have the option of permanently deleting various types of files: downloaded program files, temporary Internet files, deleted files in the Recycle Bin, setup log files, temporary files, WebClient/Publisher temporary files, and catalog files for the Content Indexer. Select which files you want to delete.

   You can safely choose to delete all these files except the setup log and Content Indexer files, which are often needed by the Windows operating system.

7. Click OK to begin deleting.