System Tools

Disc Cleanup

System Tools on your computer have what is called a 'Disc Cleanup' installed which is a tool that searches out all unwanted data on your hard drive such as temporary files etc, and then gives you the option to remove them if you choose. Most, if not all, of the data found should be safe to remove making more space on your hard drive.

Within the System Tools there is also a box you can tick to compress all old files which saves a considerable amount of space depending on how much information you have stored. This process can take some time depending on the size and content of your hard drive so you need to be patient while this operation is carried out. Either way, these kind of tools installed on our system save us a great deal of heartache and help keep the computer running fast.

Disc Defragmenting

Disc Defragmenter is another valuable tool found under System Tools on your computer and can speed up your computer quite considerably if carried out regularly.

When we create or delete data, or install and uninstall programs, all computers leave some files fragmented which means, they are no longer together in the one place. It's a bit like not putting things back where they belong after getting something out of the cupboard, eventually you will be unable to find what you're looking for, and the time taken to complete a job will take longer.

System Tools have been installed on your computer for you to carry out regular maintenance because file fragmentation and unwanted data are a normal process of working a computer, but it slows them down.

Fragmented files make a computer work harder at finding the data you are asking it to locate, making the whole process slower. Thankfully, because of System Tools, we can defragment the hard drive as a regular Maintenance schedule and return all files back where they belong making it easier for your computer to find them. Scheduling of regular defragmenting can be set in the program so you have no need to try and remember the job.

The process of defragmenting can be very slow depending on the size of your computer and extent of the fragmented data, so patience is of the essence when carrying out this work. You are able to continue using your computer whilst carrying out defragmenting but this process will slow the computer down quite considerably. Our recommendation is to find a time when you can manage without the computer for a while so as to speed up the process.

The System Tools are a good resource to use but you must give them time to carry out their work correctly or the whole process will be futile.

Task Manager

Another part of System Tools, which is not quite as obvious, is what's known as the 'Task Manager'. Apart from many other things, the task manager enables you to get out of a frozen program.

If you're computer freezes or an application crashed (stops working) you can generally overcome the problem by clicking on the start menu and then restart your computer. However, if your computer freezes and does not permit you to restart you may be able to override this by holding down the ‘CTRL’ key and the ‘ALT’ key together then while holding them down press ‘DEL’.

This will trigger the System Tools to bring up the ‘Task Manager’ window which will show all programs running and the ones not responding, highlight the one not responding and click on 'end task'.

If you are running Vista you will be presented with a choice of actions to take, select ‘start task manager’ and you will then be presented with the task manager window. When the task manager window is open and you see the program not responding just highlight the item with a left click and then click on ‘End Task’.

System Tools used regularly and correctly will save a great deal of frustration in the long term by keeping your computer at peek performance.