There are a number of ways you can keep your Windows PC operating at top performance. Here is a list of some of the top ways to boost your performance:

1. Delete unnecessary files

• Check My Documents or other files to delete information you no longer need
• Run a Disk Cleanup
  • From the Start bar, select All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup
  • Highlight the appropriate drive > OK
    
    Note: May take 5 - 60 minutes depending on hard disk size and number of files.
    
  We recommend the following suggestions on the pop-up window that follow:
  
  Safe to mark for deletion:
  • Downloaded Program Files
  • Temporary Internet Files
  • Off-line Web pages
  • Recycle Bin (check the Recycle Bin first for a last chance to recover any files)
  • Temporary Files
  • WebClient/Publisher Temporary Files
  Don't mark (unless you're sure):
  • Compress old files
  • Office setup files
  • Catalog files for the content indexer

2. Remove large file attachments in Lotus Notes
Open your Lotus Notes mail database > All Documents view > sort by size (shows the largest documents first) > delete any not required.

3. Compact Notes
Compact any large local Notes databases.

1. Right click on the local database icon > select Database / Properties > open the second Info tab.
2. Select the % used, if 90% or less, select "compact" to remove unused space in the database (where previously deleted items were).
3. Re-boot but do not open anything - proceed to step 4

4. Defragment your hard drive
Your hard drive slows down as files are spread all over the hard drive. This slows down the time it takes to read in any particular file, especially larger files. By defragmenting your hard drive, you are realigning the files contiguously so that they will be read much faster. Do this monthly.

To defragment your Windows workspace, do the following:

• Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter
• Highlight the appropriate drive and click on Defragment

Note: You can run the analyser if you wish, or just start defragment. If defrag has not been run for years you can get a huge improvement, but it could take a couple of hours during which the workstation should not be used. It is worth running defrag monthly, when it only takes approximately 15 minutes.