Every computer user is like the kid who doesn’t clean his or her room. Stuff just piles up, and at some point, you can’t get to things easily. Your hard drive is like that room. When you have too many files, your computer can’t store and then find bits of data easily. As a result, performance gets excruciatingly slow.

Here’s a spring cleaning tip: Get rid of as many temporary directories and files as you can.

Whenever you install or download a program, the process creates temporary directories and files. In very simple terms, the programs need to be able to write and transfer files from the source to your computer. When you install an upgrade, those temporary directories and files are used to hold the new program while the process removes the old one.

Most programs are pretty good about removing the temporary directories and files, but some are not. In those cases, the temporary directories and files become the operative files, and every time you need to retrieve a file or save a new or existing one, your computer starts looking for the applicable directory and needs to find its way to the temporary one.

In many ways, it’s like you looking for something where you think it should be. When it’s not there, you stumble around and eventually find it.

How do you get rid of all those temporary directories and files? It’s actually a simple process:

• Click Start.
• Type %temp% in the Search Box. A lot of directories and files will appear.
• Type Ctrl+A (the universal Select All command)
• Click on Delete
• Click on Yes

This will get rid of most – if not all – of your temporary directories and files and give your computer a more room to put things and fewer places to look for them. You can enhance performance even more by running a defrag and optimization program. Think of those processes as reorganizing your closets and shelves.

If you still believe your computer is running more slowly than it should or need some assistance with deleting temps and getting your hard drive organized, contact us (973-433-6676 [email protected]). We’re happy to answer your questions or walk you through the process.

This article was published in Technology Update, the monthly newsletter from Sterling Rose LLC.