Help cleanin up my hard drive

[jefferson411]

Okay I don't know anything about computers all I really know is that mine used to be fast but now its really slow. I do a lot with music files which stay on my computer for a week or two and then I delete them and I've also added and removed a lot of programs in the 3 years I've had this machine. I was just wondering a few things:

When I send files to the Recycle Bin and empty it are they actually gone or is there still a way those files can be found on my machine? And if so, is there a cheap (preferably free), some what easy way to locate these files and permanantly remove them?

 

[Trotter]

OK, this is a variation of another post of mine, but it might apply.

First, the drill. Is your machine clean? As in ad/spyware, viruses? Make sure. AdAware and Spybot are free, as are many others. There are free online virus scans (www.housecall.trendmicro.com) to double-check your anti-virus.

Are you running a firewall? Playing Russian roulette if you're not.

How is your registry? Again, there are several good free registry cleaners, and many not-free ones will give you a free trial. Check out Download.com for a look-see.

What apps are running in the background? Go to Start->Run->"msconfig"->Enter->Startup tab->uncheck anything that you can do without, but leave anything to do with your firewall, anti-virus, graphics driver (not graphics driver display), and broadband (if you have it). Hit Apply->OK->Reboot.

Go through these steps, see if they help, and then post again.

I will also add, Have you defragged your drive?

 

[jefferson411]

thanks a million thats sounds like its going to work, i dont have time to try it out tonight because I have to go to bed but I will try it as soon as I get done with all my stuff tomorrow. Thank you, I'll post a follow up on whether or not that did everything I was lookin for.

 

[Trotter]

Be sure to do all the rest before you defrag.

For a firewall, I recommend ZoneAlarm. For a registry cleaner, look at TweakNow. For anti-virus, Computer Associates is giving one year free trials (http://tinyurl.com/5ldb3), or they were...I have their ezArmor suite (anti-virus, firewall).