he new year is the perfect time to take stock of where you are in life and what you plan to accomplish in the next year. For some of us, this means evaluating the tools we rely on, such as our computer. For example, how well is the computer running? Is there anything to do to improve its performance?

Cleaning up your computer once or twice each year, or whenever it starts to slow down, is a good idea. Several steps are involved, but once you get the hang of it, the process is very simple.

The steps provided in this article focus on Windows XP (both Home and Pro). If you are using an older Windows computer (i.e., 95/98/ME/2000), some of the steps may differ or will not be as comprehensive; however, the same concepts apply.

Overall, I recommend doing the following:

1. Back up data.
2. Uninstall programs that you don't use.
3. Clean up the hard drive.
4. Defragment the hard drive.
5. Assess hardware.

1. Back up data

Backing up your data is important, especially before doing anything significant to the computer. This way, if the worst possible thing happens, at least you can re-install Windows, your programs, and most important, your data. Before cleaning up the computer, make sure all data are backed up. A burnable CD or DVD drive work well, so does an external USB drive.

To get started:

1. Select Start/Programs/Accessories/Windows Explorer.
2. Right click on your hard drive (most likely C:), and select Properties.
3. The window displayed is Local C: Properties (unless you're using drive D:, in which case replace C: with D:).

In future steps I will refer to this window as Local Drive Properties. You can do much of your cleanup from this window.

2. Uninstall programs that you don't use

To save space, remove extra programs that you don't use. To do this, select Start/Settings/Control Panel, and then select Add or Remove Programs. A list of all installed applications will appear, along with the date last used.

Windows will try to determine how often you've used each application. It will display "frequently" or "occasionally" or "rarely" next to the application's name in the list.

For applications that you no longer need, highlight the program names and select Remove. This will delete these programs from the hard drive.

A word of caution: Once you remove a program using these steps, it usually cannot be recovered.

3. Clean up the hard drive

The next step is to remove temporary data that you no longer need. This includes files such as cached programs you've downloaded, images from Web sites visited last month, items in the Recycle Bin and other nonessential data to which the computer is holding on. This step will speed up your computer's processing and increase drive space.

To clean up the hard drive:

1. Return to the Local Drive Properties window.
2. Below the pie chart, select Disk Cleanup. Windows will examine your hard drive for data and then display a list of items to clean up.
3. The key items that I usually remove are:
   • Downloaded Program Files
   • Temporary Internet Files
   • Recycle Bin Files
   • Temporary Files
   • WebClient/Publisher Temporary Files
   • Temporary Offline Files

I do not recommend removing Office Setup Files or selecting Compress Files.

4. Defragment the hard drive

Now that you have removed unnecessary files from the hard drive, it's time to consolidate the information stored there. Although you may have heard the word defragment before and are aware that you should do it, you might not be exactly clear on how to do it.

This is what a fragmented hard drive is: When a file is written to the hard drive it takes up a certain amount of space. The hard drive saves a little extra space in case you make any changes to the file.

If you make more changes than the hard drive saved space for, however, the file is fragmented into two or more parts.

This means that the file is now too large to fit in its original space. Some of file remains where it was first saved, and the rest is put into a second file and stored in a separate location.

As the hard drive becomes more and more fragmented, computer performance will rapidly decrease. A decrease in performance also increases wear and tear on the hard drive because it has to work harder to read a file.

To defragment the hard drive:

1. Open the Local Drive Properties window, and select the Tools tab.
2. Select Defragment Now. You should see a Disk Defragmenter screen.
3. Select the hard drive with which you're working (most likely C:), and then select Analyze. Any portion of the drive that you see in red includes fragmented files. (The computer will recommend whether you should defragment.)
4. To begin the process, select Defragment, and let the program run. The time it takes to defragment will depend on the drive's speed, size and amount of fragmentation. It can take anywhere from two minutes to a half hour. Lunch or a coffee break might be in order.

If you have a second hard drive, defragment that as well. The defragmenter will only work on one drive at a time. I usually defragment my drives if I notice a lot of disk access when I open a simple file. This is a sign that the file is fragmented all over the hard drive.

5. Assess hardware

There are three main areas to evaluate when considering your computer's ability to perform optimally. Is the CPU fast enough? Does the computer have enough memory and drive space? You can ask the computer for these numbers.

CPU

To see what type of CPU you are using, right click on My Computer and select Properties. A screen should pop up with a General tab that lists key features. Look for the CPU type in the lower right hand area.

I recommend AMD Athlon, Intel Pentium 4, Intel Pentium M (found in laptops), or a newer Intel Celeron processor. Unless you're trying to calculate prime numbers or play video games, any of these should be more than sufficient. Otherwise, 2006 might be a good year to invest in a new computer. Dell and Hewlett-Packard both have excellent machines for under $500.

Memory

To find out how much memory is available, open the applications used most in an average day. Run Windows Task Manager: Type Ctrl+Alt+Del (or, select Start/Run and then type "taskmgr"). Select the Performance tab and look at the Physical Memory/Available.

Physical memory should be at least 100,000 (100 MB). If you have less, you'll probably see and hear the hard drive spinning as Windows shifts the memory's contents to and from the hard drive (this is called virtual memory).

Memory is something that the computer can easily run out of. For contemporary applications, including QuickBooks, Excel, Word, Outlook and Firefox or Internet Explorer, I recommend at least 512 MB of memory.

Additional memory is inexpensive and easy to add. I recently purchased 1GB of memory for $100. If you're not comfortable adding memory, most computer stores will install it for you.

Hard drive

To check on drive space usage, visit the Local Drive Properties window. A graph specifies how much drive space is used and how much is free. Divide the Used space by the Capacity to determine your usage percent. Mine is 57%.

Usage of 75% or less of the hard drive is fine; however, if you're more than 75% full, I recommend upgrading the hard drive. The overall performance of your computer will start to be affected as you exceed 75% usage. In general, as your drive becomes full, speed will rapidly decrease.

Congratulations! If you removed a lot of unnecessary programs and files, and defragmented your hard drive, you are on your way to a fresh start. From all of us at Nubrek, we wish you the best in the New Year.

Joel Rydbeck, Chief Executive Officer of Nubrek Inc., brings his strong background in e-commerce and business process automation to the merchant services industry. Nubrek offers eISO, a Web application for ISOs that tracks leads and provides automated residual and commission reports. For more information on eISO or to view a free demo, visit www.nubrek.com/eiso.html . E-mail Rydbeck at joel@nubrek.com .