Small Business IT Experts

PC Health Checks – Top Ten Tips
By Angela Hart, Client Services Manager, Supreme Systems. You can contact Angela by email on angela.hart@supremesystems.co.uk or 0121 236 0065
Like a car that needs regular servicing to ensure it is in tip top condition, your PCs also require regular attention and “health checks” I have listed what I consider the top ten ways you can make your PCs perform better. Some of these tips you can perform quite easily yourself, others you may need to use professional like Supreme Systems (you knew there had to be a catch right?J) to make sure you do not cause any damage to your PCs.
1. Delete all temporary files including internet cached files and cookies
For Internet Explorer 5 and above, you can follow these directions to delete all temp files and cookies.
1) Open Internet Explorer and click on Tools2) Click on Internet Options3) On the General Tab, in the middle of the screen, click on Delete Files4) You may also want to check the box "Delete all offline content"5) Click on OK and wait for the hourglass icon to stop after it deletes the temporary internet files6) You can now click on Delete Cookies and click OK to delete cookies that websites have placed on your hard drive.
To clear the history log:
1) Open Internet Explorer and click on Tools2) Click on Internet Options3) On the General Tab, in the middle of the screen, click on Clear History4) Click OK
To clean up other temporary files
1) Click Start, Programs (or All Programs), Accessories, Systems Tools, Disk Cleanup2) Choose the correct drive usually C:\3) Check the boxes in the list and delete the files
2. Remove unused programs from you control panel
The easiest way I have found to simply remove unwanted programs is simply:
1. Go to Start Control Panel and select Add Or Remove Programs (see Figure 2).














Figure 2: Remove any software program with the Add Or Remove Programs utility under Control Panel.