if you delete files and folders does it make the computer run faster?

Answer 1

I have worked as ist and 2nd line IT support for many years, and we always advice against people deleting files without knowing what they are.

That being said, if you know what the files are and know you wont need them in future, go ahead and delete, or better go ahead and compress/burn to a cd before deleting.

To improve speed, there are other factors

first, check to see if you have space on your hard drive. To do this, go to my computer, right click your hard drive icon (usually labelled "local disk (c:)") and click properties, the pie chart represents the space on your hard drive, if its all blue you certainly need to delete some older files. Also consider uninstalling older unused programs.

second, check to make sure your PC isnt affected by spyware, trojans, adware, and virii. A couple places to check this online is:

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ : antivirus
http://www.spywareinfo.com/xscan.php : spyware removal

Third, sometimes people install a lot of applications that launch at booting, and run constantly, programs that do this a lot are printer utilites, music download tools, etc. Check this by bringing up the run dialog box (available on the start menu) and type "msconfig". hit ok and it will launch a new window.

On that window, click the startup tab, and check to make sure that list isnt overly long, 5-10 is a norm, more and your computer will suffer. If there are more than 10, read each one carefully and uncheck those not essential to your PC operating normally. I usually disable quicktime, all the messengers, and most printer utilities, you dont need them constantly...so just launch them from the start menu as you need them.

Last thing, theres a piece of software called "adaware" if you find any viruses, spyware, or other trojans on your pc, consider investing in that application . It will monitor your internet access and prevent all malicious applications from hijacking and infecting your PC.

Answer 2

It can do depending on which ones you delete. A lot of peoples computers can have a large number of files and even programs installed on them that are just sitting there doing nothing but taking up space. Your hard drive has to take time jumping over them everytime it needs to access something you do use or to write something new.

As well as clearing redundant files out, defragmenting can result in good speed improvements, especially if you have not done so before or recently. It just arranges the files you do have more efficiently and "neatly".

Answer 3

No. If you delete Malware, such as spyware and trojans. Your computer will run faster. But deleting files and folders only increase disk space on your hard drive. So you can download more stuff.

If you download music from P2P for a living, don't download on your home computer, this is one of the reasons why computers lag and crash. If you must download, go to a library, it won't cause much problems to the computer at all.

If you see something on your desktop that you did not install, DO NOT TOUCH IT, dont even double click it. just put it in the recycling bin.

STAY AWAY FROM Kazaa, and limewire. Kazaa, the software itself comes with spyware, Called Gain, Altnet. Gain is a software that is Impossible to delete. It took me weeks to get it out of my system. Limewire, the music you download from, is guaranteed to slow down your computer.

I reccomend Zultrax. It's really fast.

Answer 4

Nope, you can file up your computer with a bunch of folders, what slow down your computer is them programs that start in beginning , so you can make sure you just have the important ones running , buy some more RAM and it would speed it up the loading time on your software.

Answer 5

Yes, if you delete a considerable and significant amount of Mb and Gb. Deleting programs are more significant when it comes to making your computer run faster. See for me, I had 10 gb of music on my computer, and deleting all of it or transferring it to another hardrive made it a lot faster

Answer 6

yes if you delete temp files.
no if you delete a movie and 10 songs.
yes if you are lower on disk space.
yes if you uninstall programs you don't need.
for running comp faster yu can:
- defragment with diskkeeper (much, much, much faster than windows defragmenter);
- clean the registry with a registry cleaner (advanced system optimize, tuneup);
- scan for viruses, spyware, addware;
- use process explorer to close programs you don't need;
- use startup.exe to delete from startup programs you don't need.
etc.
good luck on making your computer faster.

Answer 7

Denise generally yes as long as the files and folder are not crucial to run Windows.

[e-mail]
www.computersRuslv.com

Answer 8

You might want to try de-fragmenting your hard drive first before deleting anything files or folders.
.

Answer 9

Yes it does because when you start the computer,, files need to show up that it takes longer time which makes the computer run slow..

Answer 10

Only if your hard drive is 90 -95% full. Running programs are far more a drain on the machine.