Cleaning Out Your Programs in XP - Take Some Precautions
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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!
Next: Uninstall and the Control Panel >>
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