my computer

[Tifa's Real Lover(really]

i click my computer, click on local disk, i see disk cleanup


what does this do does it delete all ur programs or something?

[Samuraid]

Disk cleanup simply removes a lot of unneeded or temporary files on your disk. Running it every month or so is a good idea as it keeps your disk from getting cluttered with a lot of temporary files and data. It won't touch any of your personal files.

[Tifa's Real Lover(really]

so it doesnt delete no programs?

EDIT: also what does these do?

window componet cleanup

installed programs clean up

system restore clean up

[Samuraid]

so it doesnt delete no programs?
It doesn't delete any programs.

EDIT: also what does these do?

window componet cleanup

installed programs clean up

system restore clean up
You probably don't have to worry about those.

[Zante]

System restore clean up deletes backup files Windows XP makes when installing new drivers or programs, etc. Deleting those from time to time might actualy be a good idea, imho.

[Tifa's Real Lover(really]

ok now i right click on local disk and go to tools, what does defragmentation do?

[Zante]

It will sort the data on your computer so that it will run faster.

[Tifa's Real Lover(really]

so it will movie it around?

[Zante]

It only changes where the data is stored on the hard disk phisicaly. It won't move files or folders.

[bipper]

Windows is built to work fast. In doing so, it basically throws everything into ram, or on hard drive clusters as fast as it can, thus not sorting the data, so it is next to eachother, or cleanly stored. This is one of the reason people download ram defraggers, which do the same for your RAM. This is also a good reason as to why windows should be shut down or restarted at least once every 24 hours ;)

Bipper

[Samuraid]

Windows is built to work fast. In doing so, it basically throws everything into ram, or on hard drive clusters as fast as it can, thus not sorting the data, so it is next to eachother, or cleanly stored. This is one of the reason people download ram defraggers, which do the same for your RAM. This is also a good reason as to why windows should be shut down or restarted at least once every 24 hours ;)

Bipper

But what about a massively cool uptime? Oh that's right...that's what Linux is for. :)

[crono_logical]

RAM defraggers are a waste of time - you're just sitting there paging everything out of RAM to the HD (takes a very long time) so stuff paged to the HD can be paged back into RAM neatly (takes another very long time). Plus they do nothing about freeing leaked memory, they just move it to the HD where it's still sitting there doing nothing :p You'd be better off looking at the real bottleneck causing the slowness i.e. the HD, which is orders of magnitude slower than RAM due to mechanical moving parts in it :p RAM is so fast you're not going to physically see any difference in speed yourself, however "fragmented" allocated memory gets if it's all in RAM already :p

[bipper]

Ram defraggin is 50 - 50... just as many downs a ups. Unless of course you do not want to simply restart windows ever. Then you can ram defrag and get roughly the same effects on RAM. Although not necessary, It is very nice to have, especially when you are debugging a large program, and trying to find potential memory leaks. I know there are substitutes, but ram defrag works for me :) This was a lot more necessary in 98/ME than in thier newer releases.


But what about a massively cool uptime? Oh that's right...that's what Linux is for. :)

:thumb: exactly. If I see one more advertisement that boasts windows speeds vs linux, I will freak out and kill. Hrm, on a server - what is more important - raw speed (for a few hours )) or stability, security, sensiblity and control, etc. I wonder.

Bipper

[Yrkoon]

most games are for windows :P