BrainDump
  Home arrow BrainDump arrow Page 2 - Cleaning Out Your Programs in XP
Iron Speed
ASP Free Forums 
.NET  
ASP  
ASP Code  
ASP.NET  
ASP.NET Code  
BrainDump  
C#  
Code Examples  
Database  
Database Code  
IIS  
Microsoft Access  
MS SQL Server  
Visual Basic.NET  
Windows Scripting  
Windows Security  
XML  
ASP Web Hosting  
ASP.NET Web Hosting 
Dedicated Servers 
Download TestComplete 
Windows Web Hosting
 
IBM® developerWorks 
Weekly Newsletter
 
Developer Updates  
Free Website Content 
 RSS  Articles
 RSS  Forums
 RSS  All Feeds
Write For Us Get Paid 
Request Media Kit
Contact Us 
Site Map 
Privacy Policy 
Support 
 USERNAME
 
 PASSWORD
 
 
  >>> SIGN UP!  
  Lost Password? 
BRAINDUMP

Cleaning Out Your Programs in XP
By: Michael Lowry
  • Search For More Articles!
  • Disclaimer
  • Author Terms
  • Rating: 5 stars5 stars5 stars5 stars5 stars / 2
    2008-05-07

    Table of Contents:
  • Cleaning Out Your Programs in XP
  • Take Some Precautions
  • Uninstall and the Control Panel
  • The Registry

  • Rate this Article: Poor Best 
      ADD THIS ARTICLE TO:
      Del.ici.ous Digg
      Blink Simpy
      Google Spurl
      Y! MyWeb Furl
    Email Me Similar Content When Posted
    Add Developer Shed Article Feed To Your Site
    Email Article To Friend
    Print Version Of Article
    PDF Version Of Article
     
     
    Iron Speed
     
    ADVERTISEMENT

    Ajax Application Generator Generate database and reporting .NET Web apps in minutes. Quickly create visually stunning, feature-rich apps that are easy to customize and ready to deploy. Download Now!

    Cleaning Out Your Programs in XP - Take Some Precautions
    (Page 2 of 4 )

    The most efficient way to clean your computer is in sections. In this article, I will be going over how to tidy up the programs on XP. After all, what do you use your computer for? To run various programs. Hence, we will be going over this first. I will also discuss how to control the data constantly flowing through your system. This will most likely be completed in another article, however.

    Before we get started, I'd like to go over a few precautions you should take before doing any computer maintenance whatsoever. In case you don't know, cleaning your system will involve everything from adding, deleting, moving, and renaming items. If done haphazardly, an unintended consequence may occur, such as deleting a critical system file or an important set of data. Think of how you felt when your mom accidentally threw away your best stash while cleaning your room – not the stash!

    First of all, for God's sake, don't delete anything unless you know what it is. If you can't quite tell whether it's important or not, just move it to a different directory. Then, when you restart and the program needs it, you can just move it back from where you last put it. In fact, before you do anything, you might want to make a backup of your entire system. This way, if you slip up in a way that would normally make you want to jump out the window, you still have your backup.

    In concordance with what I said about backing up the system, you should probably gather all the original discs of the programs you intend to keep. You can use them either as a backup or a reference in case you need the software key for whatever reason.

    When you do delete programs, the safest way to do so is either through the uninstall option provided with the program or the Add/Remove Programs feature in the Control Panel. Deleting the main folder of a program almost never removes an entire program. If a new icon appears on the desktop one day (what the hell?), make sure you check its properties and find out what it is before you go deleting it.

    Indeed, a lot of this is common sense, but you can't be too careful. You should actually break out the notepad and write down each step you take along the way. You'll thank me when you have to retrace your steps to find out where you went wrong. In fact, you're going to need it anyway for the next section. Uh oh!

    More BrainDump Articles
    More By Michael Lowry


       · Before you attempt to find & delete entries from the Registry. Make sure you back it...
       · Thanks for this comment. Better to be safe than sorry.
     

    BRAINDUMP ARTICLES

    - Handling Multiple Contracts with Indigo
    - Cleaning Out Your Data in XP
    - Multiple Service Contracts and Indigo
    - Cleaning Out Your Programs in XP
    - Handling Metadata with Indigo
    - Building Blocks for a WCF Service Web Site
    - Help! I Need Some Remote Assistance
    - Using Service Templates with Indigo
    - Windows XP Tips for Task Manager
    - Generating Clients and Services with Indigo
    - Vista SP1, A Review
    - Services and the WCF
    - VBScript: Final Date Functions
    - Creating Services with the WCF
    - The Resource View of the MFC

     
    Accelerating Trading Partner Performance
     
    Competing on Analytics
     
    Cost Effective Scaling with Virtualization and Coyote Point Systems
     
    Five Checkpoints to Implementing IP Telephony
     
    Hosted Email Security: Staying Ahead of New Threats
     




    © 2003-2008 by Developer Shed. All rights reserved. DS Cluster 1 hosted by Hostway