ICT News and Updates

What Does That Button Do? When did you use that program last? Do you even remember what it is?

Nearly every computer has some type of program that has been loaded onto it and never (or hardly) been used.

These programs are easily forgotten about and just left to take up space on your hard drive, which doesn’t hurt anything, Right?

Well, let’s look at it as if it were a junk drawer. (Yes, We All Have One!) That drawer may have room in it for more useless junk, but when you actually need something from it, that something would be much easier to find, if you didn’t have to root through all that other stuff.

Your computer’s hard drive is where everything is stored on your computer and there is no specific drawer for the junk. It just gets all mixed in with the good stuff. When you go about using the good stuff on your hard drive, it must sort through the junk too! This can create (or at least contribute to) poor computer performance.

Removing these programs is one of the many things you can do to help your slow computer run a little more efficiently.

First, if you don’t know what it is, Don’t Remove It! Just because you don’t know what it is, doesn’t mean your computer doesn’t need it. Make sure you know what the program is before you remove it.

Next, if you think you might want use it someday, you should make sure you have the disk, authorization number, or e-receipt to be able to reinstall it later.

Always delete programs through their uninstall link on the Start Menu, or through the ‘Add or Remove Programs’ utility (‘Start’ > ‘Control Panel’ > ‘Add or Remove Programs’).

Only remove programs from the list in ‘Change or Remove Programs’. This is the default list you will see when you open ‘Add or Remove Programs’ (the top left box will be highlighted).

There will be system updates and patches in this list too. This is a major reason to only remove programs that you are certain that you know what they are.

Remember, it’s a good idea to defragment your hard drive after removing programs.