File System Optimization

If your computer is running slower and slower each day, the file system can be the cause. First of all, let’s look at some processes that are useless and can be stopped. This will free up some processor and memory resources.

The Last Accessed Time Stamps for files process can take quite some resources to run. It creates time stamps of the last access time for all the files you currently have on your computer. Typically, it is safe to turn this off unless you use backup software that requires you to use the time stamps for backup processes. Make sure you don’t have such software! To disable the process, go to Start, and click Run. Type in “cmd” and hit enter to bring up the DOS command prompt. Type in “fsutil behavior set disablelastaccess 1” and hit Enter. Last accessed time stamps process is now turned off. If you need to turn it back on, you will use the same command but change the 1 to 0.

Fonts demand some resources because they are loaded up in memory each time you boot the computer. So, to speed up your computer, make sure that you don’t have too many font files. Click on Start, select Control Panel, and open the Fonts folder. Open the font files to view the font and see if you use it or not. If you don’t use it, delete it. Beware; do not delete all of your fonts! Word and some other products need a few fonts!

Your hard drive can become cluttered with programs you no longer use. There is an easy way to get rid of these – Add/Remove programs. Go to Start, click Control Panel, and select Add/Remove Programs. You will see a list of all the installed programs on your computer. Scroll through it and remove programs you don’t use or need. Highlight the program you want to remove and click Remove. This simple step will speed up your computer significantly! Some files can be shared between two or more programs. If any of the files are shared, you will be notified. If another program uses them, that program will no longer work.

The final step is to turn off the Indexing Service. This service is used to list all files on the hard drive so that Windows can perform faster searches. Go to Start, click on My Computer, right click the C: Drive, and select Properties. Go to the bottom of the General tab and remove the checkmark next to “Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching”. Although some people recommend it, it is not recommended to select the “Compress drive to save disk space” option. Click Ok, choose Apply changes to C:\, subfolders and files, and select OK.

Sometimes, you might get an error saying that an error has occurred when applying attributes to the file, or “Access is Denied”. Select Retry once and see if it will go ahead and finish. If not, select Ignore All so you will not be prompted for every file. When the process is complete (this may take a while), go ahead and restart your computer.

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