Windows Vista Security: Praxisorientierte Sicherheit für Profis

General Maintenance Tools

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Cleaning Up Your Disk Drives

Over time, the many types of temporary files created when you browse the Internet,

install programs, or update your computer can eat up the free space on your com-

puter’s disks. As your computer’s primary disk fills to 85 percent or more of its total

capacity, you may start to notice that it’s not as responsive as it used to be. Your

computer may slow down as its primary disk fills to capacity, because it depends on

this free space to write the page file and other temporary files it needs to use. To help

prevent performance problems due to your primary disk being too full, you should

periodically clean up your computer’s disks using Disk Cleanup. Table 20-1 pro-

vides a summary of the types of temporary files Disk Cleanup can help you track

down and remove.

Table 20-1. Temporary files that you can clean up

Type of temporary file Description

Downloaded program files Contains programs downloaded for use by your browser, such as ActiveX controls and

Java applets. These files are temporary, and you can delete them.

Hibernation file cleaner Contains the hibernation file used when your computer enters sleep mode. You can

delete this file, but it will be re-created the next time your computer enters sleep mode.

Microsoft Office temporary files Contains logfiles Office created as well as othertemporary files Office uses. Thesefiles are

temporary, and you can delete them.

Offline files Contains local copies of network files that you’ve designated for offline use. These files

are stored to enable offline access, and you can delete them.

Recycle Bin Contains files that have been deleted from the computer but not yet purged. Emptying

the Recycle Bin permanently removes the files.

Setup logfiles Contains logfiles Windows created during setup. If your computer is fully installed and

you have no problems with the installation, you can delete the setup logfiles.

System error memory dump files Contains dump files Windows created because of a STOP error. If you’ve resolved the

problem that caused the STOP error or do not plan to send the dump file to Microsoft or

another support technician, you can delete the dump files.

Temporary files Contains information stored in the Temp folder. These files are primarily temporary data

or work files for applications.

Temporary Internet files Contains web pages stored to support browser caching of pages. These files are tempo-

rary, and you can delete them.

Temporary offline files Contains temporary data and work files for recently used network files. These files are

stored to enable working, and you can delete them.

Thumbnails Contains thumbnails of pictures, videos, and documents Windows Vista has created.

When you access a folder the first time, Windows Vista creates thumbnails of pictures,

videos, and documents. These thumbnails are saved so that they can be quickly dis-

played the next time you access a folder. If you delete thumbnails, they are re-created

the next time you access a folder.

Windows Error Reporting Windows Error Reporting creates several types of temporary files that are used for error

reporting and solution checking. Once you’ve resolved any problems or if there are no

current problems, you can delete these temporary files.

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Chapter 20: Handling Routine Maintenance and Troubleshooting

You can clean up temporary files by completing the following steps:

1. Click Start

➝ All Programs ➝ Accessories ➝ System Tools. Then select Disk

Cleanup.

2. In the Disk Cleanup Options dialog box, shown in Figure 20-16, you can choose

to clean up only your files or files from all users on your computer. Most of the

time, you’ll want to clean up files from all users to ensure that you free up all the

space that’s being wasted.

3. In the Disk Cleanup: Drive Selection dialog box, shown in Figure 20-17, select

the primary system disk as the drive you want to clean up and then click OK.

The primary system disk is the disk with the Windows logo.

4. Disk Cleanup then examines the selected drive, looking for temporary files that

can be deleted and files that are candidates for compression. The more files on

the drive, the longer the search process takes.

5. When Disk Cleanup finishes, you’ll see a list of files that can be deleted, similar

to the list shown in Figure 20-18. Only a few types of temporary files are selected

Figure 20-16. Choosing the files to clean up

Figure 20-17. Selecting the drive to clean up