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Target Audience: Windows XP Users
Disk Cleanup
Defragmenting the Hard Drive
Clearing Out the System Tray
Care of Floppies, CD-Rs and Zip Disks
Making Backups
Disk Cleanup The simplest way to make room on your hard drive is with the help
of the Disk Cleanup utility.
Running Disk Cleanup:
- Click the Start button from the Taskbar.
- Select Programs from the Start Menu.
- Select Accessories from the menu.
- Select System Tools from the menu.
- Click Disk Cleanup to open the Disk Cleanup application. Disk Cleanup may take a few minutes to open while
it analyzes your disk.
- Choose the files to delete, and click OK to perform the cleanup.
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Defragmenting the Hard Drive
The Disk Defragmenter rearranges
files and unused space on your hard drive so that your computer
will run faster and more efficiently.
Starting the Disk Defragmenter:
- Click the [START] button from the Taskbar.
- Select PROGRAMS from the Start Menu.
- Select ACCESSORIES from the menu.
- Select SYSTEM TOOLS from the menu.
- Click DISK DEFRAGMENTER to open the Disk Defragmenter application.
- Select the drive you want to
defragment, and click on Analyze. This step
will tell you quickly whether the drive should be defragmented.
- If you want to
go ahead, click on Defragment to begin.
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Clearing Out the System Tray
The System Tray refers to the collection of icons
in the bottom right corner of the screen. These icons
represent running programs. Having
unnecessary programs running can use up valuable system resources;
thus slowing the operation of all other programs.Instructions for removing items from the System
Tray vary from program to program, but be on the lookout
for icons of programs that do not need to be running
all the time. These include chat programs (such as AIM
and MSN Messenger), Weather Bug, RealPlayer and others. In general,
you should be able to right-click the icon and choose Exit or Close.On installation, many programs are set up to
always start up with Windows, so you will have to close these programs
every time. Most, however, will have a setting in their Preferences or
Properties that direct it to start with Windows. Right-click the
application's icon in the System Tray and see if you can reach the settings
here. If not, open the application and check its menus for preferences,
properties, options or settings until you find the place to disable it.
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Care of Floppies, CD-Rs, and Zip Disks Don't treat your removable media carelessly! Use these tips and take care of your data.
Floppy Disk:
- 3.5" Floppy
Disks are fragile, but when well-maintained they can be an excellent
and inexpensive storage device. Don't buy one disk and reuse it until
you encounter your first major disk problem. Disks are extremely inexpensive,
so buy a pack of disks and keep backups in multiple places.Disks should not be tossed into an overloaded backpack
and toted around carelessly. Buy a plastic disk holder to hold your
disks and protect them from the elements.
- Protect your disks from extreme temperatures, and avoid exposure to magnets.
CD-R and CD-RW:
- The data side of the disc must remain free from scratches, fingerprints, dust, etc.Always handle CDs by the edges or the center hole.Always return CDs to a jewel-box or sleeve when done; don't stack them or set them
down on hard surfaces.Never write on the data side of the CD, and use a felt-tip, permanent marker to write on the
label side.
- Never leave an unprotected CD in direct sunlight, and avoid exposure to extreme
heat and humidity.
Zip Disk:
- Zip disks
tend to be sturdier than floppy disks but this does not mean that
they require less attention. The same rules that apply to the care
for 3.5" disks are valid for Zip disks as well. Keep them in their
plastic case, don't let them be crushed in your backpack, and avoid
extreme temperatures.
- When working on your documents, do not use the disk like a hard drive.
That means that you should first copy the document to the computer desktop and save it there as you work
on the document. Every once in a while, you should drag a copy of the document back onto the Zip disk.
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Making Backups
Hard disks are fragile! Protect yourself from system crashes by regularly
backing up your important files. Even if your hardware never fails, you'll be happy to have those
backups when you accidentally overwrite that important file.
Single Files or Folders:
The simplest kind of file backup is to copy a
single file or folder onto removable media, such as a
floppy disk, CD-R or Zip drive.
Your User Profile and My Documents:
Windows XP Professional includes an easy-to-use
backup tool. To use it, go to Start,
Programs, Accessories and System
Tools.
- Click Next to start the wizard then click Next
again to back up--not restore--your
files.
- Choose to back up My Documents and Settings or
Everyone's Documents and Settings if there are multiple users
for this PC and you want to make a backup of everyone's files. Click Next again.Now,
choose a location to copy the files to. This can be a different location
on your hard drive, a second internal or external hard drive if you
have one, or a Zip drive. Type in a name for
your backup folder, and click Next to continue. Unfortunately,
the backup utility does not allow you to choose a CD-R
drive as your backup location. To back up to a CD, first back up your
files to the hard drive, and then copy
those files to CD.
- At this point you may click Finish to begin the
backup.
If you're running Windows XP Home, the Backup Utility is harder to find, but probably still available
to you. Insert your Windows XP Home Edition CD, and find the Valueadd\Msft\Ntbackup folder. Double-click on
Ntbackup.msi.
The Entire Hard Drive:
The procedure described above can be used to back up the contents of your entire hard drive,
or a collection of files and folders that you select. Just choose All information on this computer or Let me choose
what to back up at Step 2, above. You may also start up the Backup Utility in Advanced mode in order to create an
Automatic System Recovery Backup. However, it's really not very automated or easy to use, and even official
Microsoft documentation states that it won't necessarily recover your full system.
If you really want to make an image of your entire hard drive to restore in case of emergency,
it's best to get an external hard drive with third-party software - it will be much easier to use and more reliable.
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