Clean Your Hard Drive

Throw Out Useless Files

Most people are astounded by the number of files that exist on their hard drives--we're talking about thousands and thousands of files, many of which just aren't necessary. There's little doubt you have more files than you need. Here are some places to look for the chaff.

Lose Leftover Installation Files

Are you searching for America's Most Wanted hard drive vandal? Look no further than the typical installation program. These beasties leave junk all over the place, not just in Temp folders. If you see a folder called msstartup on your hard disk, that's one place you'll find leftover installation files. Delete this folder without fear of reprisal--after you've successfully completed the software installation. If you've installed Outlook 98 or Internet Explorer 4, you can also look for folders named Outlook 98 Setup and IE 4.0 Setup.

Do Without Help

Help files are useful when you're in a jam, but do you truly need help with Windows Solitaire program? And even if you do need remedial card game tips, do you need an additional keyword index of the Help file? If you click on any Windows Help dialog box's Find tab, you'll create these extra index files that could top 50KB each. Seek out these critters, which have the same file name as their .hlp file counterparts, but have the extension .gid. Select Start, Find, Files or Folders, enter *.gid and from the results dialog box, select and delete every name from the list. While Find is still active, search for *.hlp and delete any results that don't seem to be programs you need help with. Sol.hlp is the first to go; that's help for Solitaire.

If the number of help files you want to clobber is bigger than the number of files you want to keep around, you might find it easier to select the good files, select Edit, Invert Selection then press Delete. Some programs use the extension *.cbt for their help files; trim any of these you don't need, too.

Special note: If you use WinZip, take care not to delete any WinZip help files. The program will refuse to launch if its help files are missing.

Don't Read Me

Practically every program you install has a Read Me file. Be honest: Do you read any of them? If not, you should. If so, do you read them more than once? It's time to clear the shelves. Use Start, Find, Files or Folders to seek out file names that match this search string: read*me. When Find is done, press Ctrl-A to select all the results, and press the Delete key. You can also browse through the files one by one and delete those you don't want.

Roll Video Off Your Disk

You may not have many video files on your hard disk, but the ones you have will be huge. Some Windows installations contain a wad of large .avi help files that show such things as cursors moving across screens as part of a beginner's tutorial. Lose them. Select Start, Find, Files or Folders and enter *.avi, *.mov in the "Named" box to locate these and other video files. Take your time to view them; just double-click their icons from the results area of the Find dialog to decide which files you want to keep or delete.

Clip Out the Art

Graphics files are big, and even though GIF and JPEG files are compressed, they still chew up a chunk of disk space. Select Start, Find, Files or Folders and enter this string in the "Named" box to find all graphics files: *.bmp, *.gif, *.jpg, *.pcx, *.tif. If you use Paint Shop Pro, add *.psp and pspbrwse.jbf to the list. Take your time to view anything you have any doubt about. You can double-click the files from the Find dialog and delete what you don't need.

Silence the Music

Sound files also hog hard drive space, and many are superfluous. Use Start, Find, Files or Folders to locate files that match this search string: *.wav, *.mp3, *.mid. Take your time to listen to the files by double-clicking them. If you don't like the sound, remove it from your hard drive by deleting it or putting it on removable media such a Zip or Jaz drive.