Our personal computers are like fine automobiles – they need preventive maintenance to keep running efficiently and avoid major breakdowns.

The following optimization tips can help improve your computer’s performance. These examples use Windows XP. Some of the screens may differ from version to version, but overall you’ll find these tips work for all versions of Windows, including Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Millennium Edition (Me), Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Vista.

By the way, in no way can you blow up your computer or files with any of these procedures. These tasks use utilities provided within the Windows operating systems to aid you in achieving the best system performance from your computer.

A) Keep your computer clean

The first part of optimizing performance is to make sure of is that the inside of your PC is relatively clean. Dust can accumulate inside a computer (desktop) very quickly, especially if the tower is sitting on or near the floor. Heat due to lack of air circulation is a BIG cause of computer failure, so you’ll want to aquire a can or two of CO2 computer cleaning spray and keep it handy. I use my computer A LOT, so I find it needs cleaning once or twice a month.

This procedure is easy for anyone to do. Just follow these steps:

1) Make sure your PC is turned off.
2) Remove the power cord and remove the side cover.
3) Spray the CO2 in all the nooks and crannies, paying special attention to fans, drives, and the power supply. Spray in short bursts until all that accumulated dust is laying outside the computer case, ready for cleanup.
4) Give your keyboard a few shots to dislodge stuff from under the keys.
5) Replace the cover and the power cord, and you’re good to go.

B) Free up disk space

By freeing disk space, you can improve the performance of your computer. The Disk Cleanup tool helps you free up space on your hard disk. The utility identifies files that you can safely delete, and then enables you to choose whether you want to delete some or all of the identified files.

Use Disk Cleanup to:

– Remove temporary Internet files.
— Remove downloaded program files (such as Microsoft ActiveX controls and Java applets).
— Empty the Recycle Bin.
— Remove Windows temporary files.
— Remove optional Windows components that you don’t use.
— Remove installed programs that you no longer use.

Tip: Typically, temporary Internet files take the most amount of space because the browser caches each page you visit for faster access later.

To use Disk Cleanup…

– Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Cleanup. If several drives are available, you might be prompted to specify which drive you want to clean.

– In the Disk Cleanup for dialog box, scroll through the content of the Files to delete list. Choose the files you want to delete.

– Clear the check boxes for files that you don’t want to delete, and then click OK.

– When prompted to confirm that you want to delete the specified files, click Yes.

To read the rest of this article, please visit SafeRegistryCleaner.com.