IMPORTANCE OF DISK CLEANUP AND WHEN TO APPLY IT

Why Disk Cleanup is important

Disk Cleanup means deleting unnecessary files from the Hard Disk on your own PC. Unnecessary can
mean many things – obsolete system files, temporary files, and corrupted files but more importantly,
user files, files you’ve saved to your disk in the past and no longer need. This may be because you have
newer versions of them, or because you have duplicates of the same version in different folders, or
because they’re safely stored elsewhere or simply because you’ve run out of space. All files you could do
without – if you knew which ones and where they are.

Why do you even care to have such files on your disk? You may rightly say that disk storage is so cheap;
you can have all the files you want without running out of space. But the point is that even with
unlimited space, you wouldn’t want your files to run out of control: having multiple copies or old versions
of the same file may lead to confusion, bloat your disk backups, prolong your virus scans, and, yes – run
you out of disk space, because it’s true that you have lots of space, but usage grows to fill the available
space; especially if you’re into large media files – all the more so if you use a faster but smaller Flash-
based Solid State Drive (SSD), which I strongly recommend you do.

Cleaning up and organizing your disk space is an essential maintenance task to keep your system
functions in optimum working condition. It also helps you recover considerable amounts of disk space
and keeps your RAM from overclocking. Although there are several benefits of regular disk cleanup of
your Mac or windows system, there are somethings that you should consider before performing a disk
cleanup. In this article we shall take a look at the do’s and don’ts of disk cleanup.

Disk Cleanup is a Microsoft software utility first introduced with Windows 98 and included in all
subsequent releases of Windows. It allows users to remove files that are no longer needed or that can be
safely deleted.
As can be seen in the picture, Disk Cleanup can delete Temporary Internet files (associated with Internet
Explorer), Downloaded Program Files, and Offline webpages. Disk Cleanup also allows you to empty the
Recycle Bin, delete Temporary Files, and delete Thumbnails.
Once Disk Cleanup opens, the initial window will ask you which drive you want to clean up. Select the
appropriate drive and click OK. In the next window that opens, check each of the boxes you want to clean
up. To the right of each item is the disk drive space each of the items is taking up on the hard drive.

What Does Disk Cleanup Do?

In a nutshell, disk cleanup searches for old temporary files, obsolete installation files, log files, internet
history and cache, error reports, save offline content and error logs etc. on your computer. All these files
might have been used or created by your system at some point, but are no longer necessary and can be
removed. It also scans for any old updates that were downloaded by your operating system, which could
take up significant amount of space on your hard disk.

Aside from removing unnecessary files, users also have the option of compressing files that have not
been accessed over a set period of time. This option provides a systematic compression scheme.
Infrequently accessed files are compressed to free up disk space while leaving the frequently used files
uncompressed for faster read/write access times. If after file compression, a user wishes to access a
compressed file, the access times may be increased and vary from system to system. In addition to the
categories that appear on the Disk Cleanup tab, the More Options tab offers additional options for
freeing up hard drive space through removal of optional Windows components, installed programs, and
all but the most recent System Restore point or Shadow Copy data in some versions of Microsoft
Windows.
ADVANTAGES AND EFFECTS OF DISK CLEANUP TO THE COMPUTER SYSTEM
When your computer runs low on available hard drive space, you can run the Disk Cleanup utility that
comes with the Windows operating system. If you have been using computers for a while, you might be
accustomed to locating unnecessary files and deleting them yourself. However, there are certain
advantages to letting an automatic tool like Disk Cleanup do some of the work for you.

Saves Time

Disk Cleanup deletes files from a variety of locations, such as the cached interactive content and
temporary files saved by Internet Explorer, log files, saved memory dumps from computer crashes, old
system restore points and the contents of the Recycle Bin. Although you can find and delete all of these
files manually, Disk Cleanup does it in far less time. For users who do not know how to delete these files
manually, Disk Cleanup eliminates the need for them to learn the process.

File Compression

Disk Cleanup has the ability to search your computer for files that you have not used for a while and
compress them. Compressing files increases the amount of free space on your hard drive without
deleting any files. However, compressed files take longer to open because the computer has to
decompress them when you need to use them. File compression is an optional feature. If you have more
than enough hard drive space, you might prefer not to use it.

Recovers Hard Drive Space

The most prominent advantage of Disk Cleanup is that it recovers hard drive space. It is not uncommon
for Disk Cleanup to recover hundreds--if not thousands--of megabytes of storage space. For example,
Windows writes the contents of the computer's memory to the hard drive by default if the computer
crashes. This file, called a "memory dump," is as large as the amount of RAM in your computer. If you
have 2GB of RAM and your computer has ever experienced a blue screen error, running Disk Cleanup will
recover at least 2GB of space.
Prevents Hard Disk from Over clogging – A fully occupied disk space not only keeps you from storing
more data, but also puts a considerable amount of load on your system performance. By removing junk
from your computer you’re literally providing the RAM, more room to breathe. This in turn results in
faster system functions and fewer application crashes.

Old Files Can Interfere with New Programs – Whenever we choose to uninstall or update an application
to its latest version, there are several files that are left behind by the older version. While the files are
mostly harmless, they could interfere with your program’s functioning. Such redundant files should be
deleted regularly from your system for best results.

Cyber Crime Security – Not many computer users might be aware of this, but hackers and cyber criminals
can easily retrieve your personal information and other details from your computer. Even if you do not
store these details directly on your computer, your internet history, system cache and other such files can
be easily targeted by criminals to get hold of your sensitive data. Cleaning your disk regularly will keep
your system free from such files from where your sensitive information could be leaked.

REFERENCES:

https://www.techwalla.com/articles/advantages-of-disk-cleanup

http://blogs.systweak.com/2016/09/what-is-disk-cleanup-and-what-are-its-benefits/

http://www.nathanzeldes.com/blog/2013/01/why-disk-cleanup-matters-and-how-you-can-get-it-done/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_Cleanup
 ONLINE
RESEARCH

SUBMITTED BY:

JENNY ROSE F. SECANG

SUBMITTED TO:

MRS. LILEBELLE BALDOVE