Best way to free up disk space??

[ScrapShana]

Since emptying your recylce bin doesn't really clear the files from your hard drive, and reformatting takes sooooo much work.....does anybody have any good software programs to suggest that will clean up your hard drive? I've looked into things like the pc shampooer and stuff like that, but it is all so confusing. Which is best? What actually works???

My laptop is really slowing down because of all the files I've accumulated. I need to back up my files and erase all this from here. Any information would be GREATLY appreciated!!

[ABitDaffy]

Shana,

Have you tried these 5 steps?

http://www.microsoft.com/AtWork/getstarted/speed.mspx

I used them on my desktop recently and it did make a pretty big difference! I also moved all of my pictures and scrapping stuff to external drive that I can access from my desktop and my laptop, so hopefully neither of them will get too bogged down.

[emst]

Thanks for that info Daphne, I have the link in my favorites now. I too end up with way too much stuff on my computer so have most of my scrapping stash on an external drive. The extras really do slow down my computer too.

[gigichet]

Originally Posted by ABitDaffy

Shana,

Have you tried these 5 steps?

http://www.microsoft.com/AtWork/getstarted/speed.mspx

I used them on my desktop recently and it did make a pretty big difference! I also moved all of my pictures and scrapping stuff to external drive that I can access from my desktop and my laptop, so hopefully neither of them will get too bogged down.

Thank you for sharing this site Daphne...my laptop is so slow and like Shana just deleting the garbage and defraging doesn't seem to help anymore.

[HollyS]

Lots of fonts installed will slow it down....there are font managers out there that let you install fonts as you need them instead of having them always there at your disposal. I think Joy uses something like that.

[KattyZak]

Thanks for the info. Will be trying that.

[inge]

Originally Posted by HollyS

Lots of fonts installed will slow it down....there are font managers out there that let you install fonts as you need them instead of having them always there at your disposal. I think Joy uses something like that.

THE FONT THING, I learned about it here through Joy...She even wrote a tutorial about it ! The only thing I still haven't finished is sort them out into categories LOL

[ScrapShana]

I have The Font Thing on my other computer.....but how do you get it to only install the fonts you need, etc? I have only used it as a way of categorizing and viewing my fonts.

Thanks so much for this link Daphne. I'll be working on this during the weekend!

[twirlyjoy]

Here is a link to download the tutorial for The Font Thing

There is also a really good programme which removes all the junk from your computer called Ccleaner which you can get here - you can decide what it removes and what it leaves - and it does it all with one click!!!