How to safely remove software and files from your PC
How to safely remove software and files from your PC
Do a clean sweep of your computer
Like many mothers, Andrea Grace will sit down at her PC to check e-mail, only to find that her kids, Jason, 8, and Rachel, 10, have installed some new programs. "Between those CD-ROM games found in cereal boxes and downloaded Neopets, there are now icons all over the place," says Grace. "And of course they don't play half the games. If I ran out of space I wouldn't know how to delete them," she admits.
Grace isn't alone—it's not uncommon to fill space on a hard drive with games, productivity programs, or files, such as music, digital photos, and video clips. Some technology analysts believe that we use less than 10 percent of the programs installed on our computer.
So, considering you're likely to do some spring cleaning in the coming months by removing old and unwanted clutter from your closets and garage, why not tidy up your computer as well?
While deleting programs is relatively easy, many novice computer users believe they can be removed by simply deleting their icon on the desktop. This does not work as it's only a shortcut to the real program, which consists of many files. And keep in mind that you can do damage to your PC's performance by deleting an entire program folder that you don't think you need from your hard drive.
The following is a look at how to safely—and easily—remove old or unused programs from your Microsoft Windows XP-based computer. Much of the advice is also applicable to older versions of Windows.
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