Disk clean up

[ray316]

l use disc clean up to delete temp cookies and files and would like to know if this improves the speed on the computer and makes more space on the hard drive,and if they just get compressed where do they get stored. If it does not delete files compleatly off your computer how do you delete unwanted cookies /files permently.

[Xylob the Destroyer]

for cookies and temp files, Windows Disk Cleanup "deletes" the files.
however, if you're not using a GOOD defrag utility (NOT the one that comes with Windows!), you're not going to get any kind of speed or performance increases by 'cleaning' your drive.

to permanently delete stuff, you gotta defrag &/or overwrite the space that those deleted files previously occupied
or waste your money on some program that will overwrite them - but this still leaves your drive fragmented

[ray316]

l was not sure if disc clean up actually permently deletes unwanted cookies and files. l am sure somewhere on here before someone mentioned to delete unwanted cookies/files go to start/run .....then you had to type something in run which got you to unwanted files to delete permently.. the speed of my computer is slow and l have done disc clean up but they are still stored somewhere maybe my hard drive needs a permenant clean up...

[MJA]

for cleaning ,use ccleaner http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/.

I also agree with Xylob the Destroyer about using a defrag program ( O&O Defrag ,or Diskeeper ) to increase the performance of your HD

[Krispy Kritter]

Cleaning/removing temp files and cookies will not likely improve the speed of your computer and/or get you much disc space.

To gain more "speed", you need to clean/optimize/compact the registry. Then remove all the unneeded startup programs (ie. all of the little icons that appear down in lower right of the task bar by the clock). Almost everything that you see down there slows bootup time and is using system resources. It's also not needed to be loaded at startup for most programs to function properly, there are exceptions of course.

To gain HD space/speed, you need to remove all software/programs/files that are not used or needed. Then defrag the HD.

[Xylob the Destroyer]

O&O is an amazing defrag program

get a command prompt and type msconfig and hit enter
go to the last tab and see what kind of crap you have starting when you boot up

getting more speed/performance from your machine requires a lot of time and some fairly regular maintenance.
unfortunately, there is no magical one-click type of solution.
there are literally billions of things that can have a negative impact on your system performance. Despite popular belief, IRQ conflicts are still a very real issue. Is your system too hot? Got shitty drivers? Trojans, spyware, malware, crapware?

you need to keep your registry clean and defragged
you need to keep malware at bay
you need to keep your drive cleaned and defragged
make sure your paging file is set properly and regularly defragged
keep your drivers updated
BIOS settings can help too
you don't have your computer details listed, so i don't what you're running, but if you have XP, get rid of that stupid-ass Fisher-Price/Playskool interface and set up your options to allow windows to focus on performance over appearance.
the list goes on and on

check this, I'm anal:

that's 4 registry cleaners
2 spyware proggies
4 disk cleaners
and 1 bad-ass defrag program
not to mention some other stuff

but my PC is FAST, especially for only being an Athlon XP 2400+ with 0.75G RAM.
I do all the same stuff on the PC listed in my profile too, and it's pretty damn zippy too for being 4-5 year old gear.

I'm not saying that what I do on my machines is the end-all be-all answer to everybody's performance problems, but it certainly won't hurt ya...

Maybe you should consider getting a SATA drive. I haven't made that leap yet, but I'm waiting for 10,000rpm models with BIG buffers to become more common and a lot cheaper.