When you follow a few procedures you can keep your computer maintained and it will continue to run smoothly for you. There are many tools that Microsoft has included in the Windows 7, XP and Vista operating systems that if you perform them you will keep your computer running fast as well as protecting your privacy when you are surfing the internet.

The first thing to do is to free up the space on your hard drive. The Disk Cleanup tool will help remove unnecessary files and programs and will help improve the performance of your computer. The cleanup tool will help you identify the files that are safe for you to remove from your hard drive. You will have the choice of deleting all or just some of the files.

The Disk Cleanup tool will remove the temporary files from visiting internet sites. It will remove Java applets, Active X controls and other downloaded program files. It will empty the recycle bin and remove the Windows temp files like error reports. You also have the option to remove optional components of Windows that you do not use, remove installed programs you do not use, and remove any unused restore points as well as shadow copies from System Restore.

You access Disk Cleanup from the Start Menu. Go to All Programs, Accessories and you will find the Disk Cleanup utility in the System Tools. If you have more than one hard drive or partition be sure to run the utility on all drives.