What does disk clean up do?

Question

I went on the net to download a disk clean up, because my pc is not accepting the command to clean up through : programs, acceessories, so on..One page talks about a disk clean up that cleans the history of the hard drive, and all the pictures. I do not want that to happen. I have great and very important pictures on my drive i do not want to erase. Help..thank you

Answer 1

*I would back up your photos onto CD or onto another drive. * If your hard disk dies for whatever reason, or you make a mistake, you can lose them forever. You will be very regretful afterwards. Do this before you do anything else. It does not take much effort to do.

There are several disk clean applications available, although they all do the same thing. Essentially they are used to remove the following types of files:
a) Temporary internet files
b) Temp files
c) browsing history
d) in some cases, 'wash' the disk. This means overwriting unused sections of the disk so that existing deleted data cannot be resurrected or restored (easily).

These sort of tools are good for maximizing the amount of disk space, and erasing your usage history.

If you are running Windows XP, I would use the Disk Defragment tool to help speed it up a little. To access this, find the 'my computer' icon, right click and select 'manage'. Find the 'Disk Defragmenter' item and defragment the disk. This speeds up the machine by merging fragmented files into a contiguous file. This speeds up disk access time, which results in a slightly faster machine. Also, there is also no risk of losing data. Good luck

Answer 2

From "start menu"-> all programs->accessories->system tools->disk cleanup, deletes the following type of files...

Temporary Windows files: As Windows goes about its regular business, it periodically creates temporary files. If all goes well, those files are deleted when no longer needed. If (for some strange reason) they aren't, the Disk Cleanup tool identifies them as targets for deletion.
Temporary Internet files: While browsing the Internet, lots of temporary files are automatically downloaded to your system. Getting rid of these can free up disk space, but it can also make accessing your favorite Web sites just a bit slower until the temporary files are again downloaded. (Go ahead and delete them, because the temporary files include many from sites you may never visit again.)
Temporary program files: Many programs create temporary files and place them (appropriately enough) in a system folder for temporary files. Disk Cleanup tool targets temporary files in this folder for deletion, but only if they haven't been modified in the past week.
Downloaded program files: This doesn't mean the latest shareware you downloaded. It refers to controls and applets that are downloaded as part of the Web pages you visit.
Recycle Bin: Delete a file? Bam! It ends up in the Recycle Bin faster than you can blink. If you're the type who forgets to empty the Recycle Bin, the Disk Cleanup tool is pleased to point out your character flaw.
Setup log files: While installing various Windows pieces and parts, the system keeps track of what it does through log files. After a time, these files can be safely deleted.

So for that tool your pictures and music etc in "My documents" will be safe.

Answer 3

The Disk Cleanup tool helps you free up space on your hard disk by searching your disk for files that you can safely delete. You can choose to delete some or all of the files. Use Disk Cleanup to perform any of the following tasks to free up space on your hard disk:
- Remove temporary Internet files.
- Remove downloaded program files. For example, ActiveX controls and Java applets that are downloaded from the Internet.
- Empty the Recycle Bin.
- Remove Windows temporary files.
- Remove optional Windows components that you are not using.
- Remove installed programs that you no longer use.

You can start Disk Cleanup, by doing any of the following:
Click Start, and then click Run. In the Open box, type cleanmgr, and then click OK.

-or-
• Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Cleanup.
-or-
• Double click on My Computer, right-click the disk in which you want to free up space, click Properties, click the General tab, and then click Disk Cleanup

Answer 4

First you could clean-up the disk. once you achieve this, some archives written as fragments might br left on the disk. as quickly as you have defrag, there will be areas left so as which you would be able to defrag the disk. So i might extremely clean the disc as many times as a probability (as quickly as an afternoon) and defrag the disk whilst the computing device slows down.

Answer 5

It cleans out junk files and frees up disk space. Use Windows CleanUp!, it's the best. Google it.

It won't erase YOUR pictures, just the ones in your internet cache.

Answer 6

It helps to clean up necessary debris like cache,cookies,temp files etc. I use a freeware program called Ccleaner that is a miracle worker,no lie! After every session and only takes a minute.I follow up with Toilet Flush which is also free.