how to clean the hard drive a compaq laptop?

Question

i have a compaq laptop and my hard drive is completely full. my computer's performance has really slowed down due to this. i have tried everything to my knowledge and really need this question answered.

Answer 1

ilan's suggestion of running disk cleanup is a good place to start. It will usually free enough space that you can then do a "real" clean up of the hard drive. But usually does not free enough space to be a permanent solution.

You will need to remove some of the files you can live without from your computer. Begin by copying your music to CDs or DVDs. You can still play your songs from there. Same with any pictures, videos, etc. that you have. Move them off the drive.

The (like ilan said) use the Control Panel and Add/Remove programs to get rid of any programs you live without. When you start looking down the list, you will probably find a dozen little "free" things that you forgot you even had on the PC. Remove as many as you can.

Finally, once everything has been deleted or moved, you will want to run a "defrag". While these does NOT normally free up space on the drive, it will rearrange the files left in a better order so that the computer runs faster. After doing a majr cleanup, you should always defrag the drive.

Finally, consider investing in a USB hard drive. they are cheap and easy to use (plug it in and you are done). You can move all your music, pictures, videos, documents, etc. to that second drive and free up all that space on the original drive. And still have access to them just as quickly as if they were on the original drive.

Answer 2

ALSO FOR A NEW COMPUTER

with pre-installed demo (or full) programs you don't want/need, check out this program:

The PCDecrapifier:

http://www.appscout.com/2007/05/the_pc_decrapifier_clean_up_yo.php

It didn't detect everything but it was a good start for new, pre-built PCs and laptops. Then you might run add/remove programs and go down the list removing any program which you still do not want.

BE CAREFUL!!!
DO NOT REMOVE ***ANYTHING*** UNLESS YOU ARE TOTALLY 100% SURE WHAT IT IS AND THAT IT IS NOT ESSENTIAL TO YOUR DRIVERS OR OPERATING SYSTEM!!!

You can always search windows help or google if you need to check it out. Good luck!

Answer 3

Typically the F11 initiates the compaq computer restore functions. Most of the time it will give you an option to backup your user created files. My recommendation is to backup the files yourself to a portable USB drive just in case there is a problem with the recovery process. It is possible any user installed applications will need to be reinstalled.

Answer 4

Go to My Computer -> Right click C:\ Drive -> Select Disk Cleanup from the menu and follow the wizard to clean the disk.

You can also go to your Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs -> and go through the list and see what software you no longer need or use that you can remove.

Answer 5

click start then programs..go to accessories...then system tools...do a disk clean up....after that you should defrag it...you will click start again..then programs..go to accessories...system tools...and do a defrag of your hard drive (C drive)

If you haven't done so already you need to get a can of air and take off the side of your computer panel (be sure you touch metal first to de-static yourself) and air all the dust out. The dust can also affect the performance of your pc...and it can burn up your hard drive.