www.gateway.com

Managing hard drive space

Deleting unnecessary files

Delete unnecessary files, such as temporary Windows files, to free hard drive space.

Shortcut

Start Ö My Computer Ö Right-click

drive Ö Properties Ö Disk

Cleanup ÖOK Yes

Help & Support

For more information about keeping the hard drive free of unnecessary files, click

Start, then click Help and Support. Type

the phrase disk cleanup in the Search box, then click the arrow.

To use the Windows Disk Cleanup program:

1Click Start, then click My Computer. The My Computer window opens.

2Right-click the hard drive that you want to delete files from, for example Local Disk (C:), then click Properties. The Properties dialog box opens at the General tab.

3Click Disk Cleanup. The Disk Cleanup dialog box opens.

4Make sure that the check box beside each file type you want to delete is selected. For more information about file types you can delete, read the descriptions in the Disk Cleanup dialog box.

5Click OK, then click Yes.

Checking the hard drive for errors

The Error-checking program examines the hard drive for physical flaws and file and folder problems. This program corrects file and folder problems and marks flawed areas on the hard drive so Windows does not use them.

If you use your computer several hours every day, you probably want to run Error-checking once a week. If you use your computer less frequently, once a month may be adequate. Also use Error-checking if you encounter hard drive problems.

To check the hard drive for errors:

Help & Support

For more information about checking the hard drive for errors, click Start, then click Help and Support. Type the phrase checking for disk errors in the Search box, then click the arrow.

1Click Start, then click My Computer. The My Computer window opens.

2Right-click the hard drive that you want to check for errors, for example Local Disk (C:), then click Properties. The Properties dialog box opens.

129