How to Clean a Windows 7 Computer

Windows

Over time, computer performance decreases. And this is primarily due to the “clutter” of the operating system with temporary files, logs, etc. The best solution in this situation is reinstalling the OS. But what if it’s scary to do this on your own, or simply there is not enough time to configure the primary parameters and unpack the software? Read our article. She will tell you how to completely clean the computer without removing Windows.

How to Clean a Windows 7 Computer

Types of computer cleaning

To solve this problem, you need to apply all known methods to increase PC performance. Fulfillment of only one of the items does not guarantee the successful elimination of the problem.

Removing garbage with CCleaner

This software cleans all the tails after uninstalling programs, surfing the Internet and deleting files. Therefore, for the initial stage of cleaning, there is no better application. So do the following:

  1. Download CCleaner from this link if you do not have one.
  2. Install on the computer following the prompts of the “Installation Wizard”.
  3. Open the application and go to the “Cleaning”. “Windows” tab.
  4. In the list that appears, check the box next to the fields whose execution you want to run.

RAM free

Full RAM is one of the most important factors. There are no brief instructions for cleaning it; the issue must be approached with the utmost seriousness. Therefore, we recommend that you read the article: “How to free up RAM on a computer?”

Defragment your hard drive

This event not only increases the performance of the system, but also extends the life of the equipment. Users constantly copy, move and delete files. This leaves a serious imprint on the functioning of the hard drive.

The fact is that during the above manipulations with the object, data is written to free memory cells. If the file is too large and does not fit on a certain area, it is divided (fragmented) and recorded on different sections of the HDD. This, in turn, increases the response time of the hard drive to provide information and causes “slowdowns”.

To redistribute data, do the following:

  1. Go to “Control Panel”. “Defragment and optimize drives.”
  2. Activate the desired device.
  3. Click the “Optimize” button and wait for the operation to complete.
  4. Repeat these steps for all local disks and logical volumes.

Winchester formatting

If you decide to take extreme measures, then why not reinstall Windows at the same time? But in case of a fundamental decision to save the OS, follow these steps:

  1. Go to My Computer.
  2. Right click on the desired local drive and select “Format”.
  3. Install the NTFS file system, a checkmark next to the item “Quick (clear the table of contents)” and click the “Start” button.
  4. Confirm that you want to delete all contents of the local disk.

On this I will end. Now you know how to completely clean your computer without removing Windows. Be careful with formatting and keep your computer software clean. Good luck

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Cleaning a computer is an inevitable step that any computer user will sooner or later face. To completely clean your Windows 7/8/10 computer, you must perform several required procedures.

Why is cleaning necessary?

Complete cleaning of a computer or laptop is carried out in several cases, mainly before selling the machine to another person. The Windows operating system during the operation accumulates a large number of files. This includes various temporary files, cached data, deleted items in the trash, and more. A lot of space on the hard disk can take and registries. All this clutters the Winchester over time, due to this it decreases overall performance a computer.

Of course, the easiest way to clean the hard drive, and in particular drive C, is to full formatting, however, it is far from always possible to carry out this procedure.

Preparation for cleaning

Before cleaning the computer from debris, it is necessary to make a complete audit of the information stored on the hard drive. Must save all important and the necessary files to another medium.

This is important to do since it will be practically impossible to recover many files after cleaning, and those that can be restored can be damaged.

Using CCleaner to clean

CCleaner is a great tool to clean your computer of various debris without removing Windows. A free version of the program is available for download.

After downloading the distribution kit, you must install CCleaner following the advice of the “Installation Wizard”. When the program is installed, you can start it and proceed to cleaning the computer. To do this, the following steps are performed:

  • Go to the tab “Cleaning“;
  • The item “is selectedWindows“;
  • In the list that appears, select the items that need to be cleaned. It is important to pay attention to the fact that when deleting temporary files and deleted files to the trash, they disappear forever and restore them will not work;
  • On the tabApplications»From the list that appears, also select the items that need to be cleared. On this tab, when you select the appropriate item, they may be deleted. All saved passwords. It is better to take care of their safety in advance;
  • After all the necessary items on both tabs are selected, click the “Cleaning»And wait until the program deletes all unnecessary files from the computer;
  • When the cleaning is finished, you can go to the “Registry“. It is not recommended to change the parameters selected by default in the absence of the necessary knowledge;
  • The button is pressedTroubleshooting“. After the search is completed, the “Fix it.“;
  • In the window that appears refuse backup.

Cleaning up computer RAM

To clean the computer’s RAM, you must use the Task Manager. The easiest way to launch it is by pressing a hotkey combination CtrlShiftEsc.

In the window that appears, go to the “The processes“, Usually it is open by default.

By sorting indicators “CPU“And”Memory»Computes the processes that load the system.

In Windows 7, remains on the “The processes“, In Windows 8 and 10, go to the tab”Details”And right-click on the processes that need to be closed and select“Remove task” or “Complete the process tree“.

Some processes may not close. These may be viruses. You can remove them using an antivirus. But also various standard system services and other third-party software may not be closed. To completely disable them, the corresponding processes are excluded from the startup list when the computer starts.

Browser Cleanup

In modern computers, most of the data is stored in browsers, which you also need to clean up. By standard Windows solutions, only temporary data in Internet Explorer can be cleaned of garbage, but most users use other programs to access the Internet. Each of them has its own tool, we talked about this in a separate article.

For full browser cleanup The following data must be deleted:

  • History of visits to pages of Internet sites;
  • Download history;
  • Cookies
  • Cache data (images and other data);
  • Passwords and logins for access to various sites;
  • Statistics for reading certain news and search queries.

Defragmentation

All files on the hard drive are stored in different clusters due to their large size. At the same time, recording is not always carried out in neighboring clusters. Location of data in different clusters reduces speed computer, so clusters must be periodically ordered. This procedure is called disk defragmentation.

To complete this process, you must open “Control Panel“:

  • Select “Defragment and optimize disks“;
  • Choose drive, which will be defragmented;
  • Press the button “Optimize“.

Next, an operation will be performed at the end of which defragmentation will be completed. This procedure is repeated with all volumes.

Standard Disk Cleaners

In order to use this cleaning method, you must go to “My computer“. Select the desired drive and use the right mouse button to go to its properties. On the tab “Are common“Press the button”Disk Cleanup“.

A process starts that prepares the files for deletion. At the first start of this action, it can be performed for a long period of time, in some cases it may take several hours.

After evaluation in the window that appears ticked in all menu items and the button is pressedOK“.

We must not forget to go to the tab “Additionally“. Here you can delete unused programs and recovery points.

Uninstall programs

To remove unnecessary programs on your hard drive, go to “Control Panel“And select”Uninstall programs” or “Programs and Features»Depending on the version of the operating system used. A list of programs installed on the computer appears.

They can be deleted. To do this, click on the desired program and click “Delete program“. After that, using the program uninstaller, you need to remove the software from the hard drive. So you need to repeat until all unnecessary programs are deleted.

Disk formatting

An extreme measure of cleaning a hard drive is to format it. To do this, go to “My computer»And right-click on the volume of interest that will undergo formatting. In the list that appears, select the “Format“.

You need to check the box next to Fast (clearing the table of contents). After that press the button “To begin“.

After a while, the disk will be formatted.

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