Here's How I Clean Up System Junk (Years of Experience)
1. Temporary Files Generated During Software Installation
Many software applications, when installing, first extract their installation files to a temporary directory (usually the Temp directory under the Windows folder), such as with tools like WinZip. Then the installation proceeds.
If there are oversights in software design or issues with the system, these temporary files may not be "temporary" after installation, becoming a bunch of junk on the hard drive. Often, they appear with the *.tmp extension.
During software operation, some temporary swap files are usually generated, such as backup files like *.old, *.bak created when some programs work, backup files generated by antivirus software or system software when checking the hard drive, etc.
Some help or tutorial files自带 by application software (often with extensions like.hlp), and redundant font files in the operating system. A large number of font files not only take up a lot of space but also seriously slow down the system and some graphics processing software. Additionally, the "System Restore" folder occupies a large amount of disk space.
Since most Windows software uses dynamic link libraries (DLLs), and some software is not very maturely designed, many software, after being uninstalled, often leave some folders, *.dll files, *.hlp files, registry key values, and various unknown small things on the hard drive, becoming genuine junk.
3. Temporary Files Generated While Surfing the Internet
When surfing the internet, the browser downloads some web page files to the local machine, not only occupying valuable disk space but also exposing personal privacy. Additionally, it generates basically useless "waste" such as browsing history, temporary cache files, and Cookies.
How to Delete Junk Files
1. Delete System-Generated Temporary Files
The junk generated during Windows installation and use includes temporary files (such as *.tmp, *._mp, etc.), temporary backup files (such as *.bak, *.old, *.syd, etc.), temporary help files (*.gid), disk check data files (*.chk), and other temporary files like *.dir, *.dmp, *.nch. You can use the system's "Find" function to find these "junk" files on the hard drive and delete them. Method: Select all these files, right-click, and choose Delete. The two temporary folders "C:\Temp" and "C:\WINDOWS\Temp" are also breeding grounds for "junk", containing only temporary files, which can be safely deleted entirely.
2. Delete Uncommonly Used Files
Enter the "Add/Remove Programs" window in "Control Panel" and delete unnecessary program components in the "Add or Remove Windows Components" option. Some program files in the system can also be deleted. For example, in the "C:\WINNT\driver cache\i386" directory of Windows 2000, there is a compressed file named "driver.cab" with a size of about 50+ MB, which is a built-in hardware device driver package. The file named "user.dmp" often causes the computer to malfunction and is of little use, so it can also be deleted. The method for deleting these uncommonly used files is the same as the previous paragraph.
3. Delete the "System Restore" Folder
Although Windows Me/XP's "System Restore" improves system security, as more software is installed and "restore points" are created, its restore backup folder (_Restor) will become larger and larger, wasting a lot of hard drive space. The method to delete the restore backup folder is: Click the "System" option in Control Panel, enter the "System Properties" dialog box, check "Disable System Restore", then open the Registry Editor (Regedit.exe), layer by layer enter "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/System/CurrentControSet/Services/VxD", find the VXDMON key below, delete it all, and restart to delete the large "junk" file "_Restor".
4. Clear Some Junk Information of Running Records
① Clear Program Names in the "Run" List
When using the "Start/Run" command of the Windows operating system, we will find many commands in the "Open" box. Not all of these commands are needed, and some information is easy to expose personal information. If you want to delete the junk information here, expand "HKEY-CURRENT-USER/ Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Explorer/RunMRU" in the Registry Editor. The information in the "Run" dropdown list is displayed on the right side of this registry. To delete a project, right-click the name and choose "Delete". Note: Do not delete the lines where "Default" and "MRUList" are located.
② Clear File Names in the "Documents" Menu
Select → → , open the "Taskbar Properties" dialog box. In this dialog box, select the "Start Menu Programs" tab, then click the "Clear" button. Then the content in the "Documents" list will be completely cleared.
③ Delete Startup Configuration Files
Under the Windows operating system, system startup configuration files like "Autoexec.bat" and "Config.sys" are basically of no use, and you can also delete them. If you are not at ease and don't want to delete them, but for a cleaner system and faster startup, it is best to open these two files with Notepad and clear their contents.
④ Delete Residual Information in the Playback Record of Windows Media Player
After using it for a long time, you will find that the playback dropdown box of Windows Media Player lists the file lists of previously played files. Some information is completely useless and fills up the playback list. The method to delete this useless information is to open the Registry Editor, find "HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/MediaPlayer/Player/ RecentFileList", the playback record will be displayed in the right window, clear all these keys to clear the playback record.
In the same way, we can also delete the junk information in the playback list of RealPlayer and the viewing list information of ACDSee, etc.
5. Delete Residual Files After Software Uninstallation
① Delete the Software Installation Folder
First, find and right-click the software shortcut, select Properties, and click the "Find Target" button in the General tab to quickly find the software's installation directory, such as "C:\Program Files\Kuro\Kuro.exe". Then, in Windows Explorer, find "C:\Program Files\Kuro" and delete it.
② Delete Junk Information in "Add/Remove Programs"
Uninstall an application program through "Add/Remove Programs" in "Control Panel", but sometimes the program remains in the list after uninstallation, and the junk information accumulates more and more over time. Deletion method: Open the "Registry Editor", expand "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SoftwareMicrosoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Uninstall" in sequence, then all items in "Add/Remove Programs" will be displayed on the right side of the screen. Select the junk information item, right-click the value, and choose the "Delete" command in the pop-up menu.
③ Cancel Startup at Boot
If the software to be deleted starts with Windows at boot, then in Windows 98/XP, run Msconfig, start the system configuration tool, click the Startup tab, check if there is a link like "C:\Program Files\Kuro\Kuro.exe" in it, and if so, cancel it. The same can be done in Windows 2000, but you need to copy this file from Windows 98 or Windows XP to the Windows NT directory.
④ Delete File Association Items
In Windows Explorer, select "Tools/Folder Options" under the "File Types" tab, find the file type associated with "C:\Program Files\Kuro\Kuro.exe", and then press the Del key to delete it.
⑤ Open the Registry and Find Keys Related to the Uninstalled Software
Open the Registry, use the Find function to find key values related to the software in the Registry, find and delete them. There may be multiple, and then you can use the F3 shortcut key to continue finding until all items are deleted.
⑥ Use Professional Junk Cleaning Software
"FileClear" is a green free small tool, only 335KB. After downloading, it can be used directly without installation.
The interface of this tool is quite simple, and the running speed is relatively fast. It has the following characteristics: "Scan" can find all junk files on the hard drive that match the extension of junk files, list them one by one for selection whether to delete; "Backup" can back up the selected junk files to the C:\backdel directory. There is also a hjl.bat file, double-clicking it can restore the backup files to the original directory; "Add Type" can add extensions that are considered junk files, and note that the form should be consistent with those listed in the table; files in the temporary directory refer to junk files in C:\windows\temp, which can generally be safely deleted; internet cache files refer to a large number of temporary files generated when surfing the internet, which generally become junk files after going offline and can be deleted.
"Environmental Guardian" is a file cleaning software running under Windows 95/98/NT/2000.
Its feature is that users can define and modify the software to be cleaned, and it will not delete any files without the user's permission, so it has a very high safety factor. The use interface of SafeClean is very friendly, and as long as you can use Windows, you should be able to use SafeClean. SafeClean supports multi-language interfaces (including Chinese, of course), and you can modify the interface to the desired language at any time.
DiskInfo is a supporting hard drive analysis software, which can help you analyze the usage of the hard drive, find the largest subdirectories on the hard drive, etc. The functions of SafeClean include: finding and deleting user-defined file formats; finding and deleting user-defined directories (including the Cache directories of Netscape and IE); finding broken shortcut connections in the startup menu and on the desktop; the progress summary reports the progress at any time; multi-thread technology and better algorithms, plus the Undo function, which can restore mistakenly deleted files.
Delete Temporary Files Generated While Surfing the Internet
Many "junk" are also generated while surfing the internet, including internet browsing history, temporary cache files, Cookies, such as accessed website addresses, logged-in usernames, passwords, or personal information, identity identification, etc.
① Clear Browsing History
The method to clear it is to enter the "Control Panel→Internet Options" dialog box, click the "Delete Files" and "Clear Browsing History" option buttons on the "General" page, or directly delete the content in the "Temporary Internet Files" folder under Windows to achieve the purpose of clearing junk. Additionally, some temporary files are generated while surfing the internet, and they also need to be deleted in the C:\Windows\Temp directory.
② Delete Address Bar List Records
There will be records of visited sites in the dropdown list box of the address bar. To delete the content you don't want, you can use the method of modifying the Registry. Open "Regedit" in the "Run" command of the "Start" menu to open the Registry, expand "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\ InternetExplorer\TypedUrls" in sequence, all subkeys under this key are the historical site records. Find the site records you don't want and delete their contents.
③ Delete Junk Information in the Right-Click Menu
There is a new source code that adds your website name to the right-click menu, which will appear in the pop-up menu when you use the right-click. Although it doesn't affect use, the long right-click menu is also unsightly. The deletion method is: Open the Registry Editor, find "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\InternetExplorer\ MenuExt", delete the annoying URLs in it, and the website names will no longer appear in the right-click.
④ Use 3721 Internet Assistant (Not Recommended)
Using "Internet Assistant", we can delete temporary files and various other unnecessary files left after the system has run for a period of time, save disk space, and improve running speed. You can enter the internet assistant page by entering http://assistant.3721.com/?type=clean in the address bar.
"Internet Assistant" can realize privacy protection functions, which can help us clear web page information left after surfing the internet (including address bar URLs, temporary files, browsing history, usernames, passwords, or search keywords you have entered, etc.). It can also extend this function to clear the recently used document records in the "Start Menu" and the information generated when accessing "Network Neighborhood", etc.
Transferred from the Enthusiasts Forum (IT, computer knowledge exchange platform; the official forum of "Computer Fan").
http://bbs.cfan.com.cn
Part of the content refers to the Enthusiasts Forum <<Computer News>>
1. Temporary Files Generated During Software Installation
Many software applications, when installing, first extract their installation files to a temporary directory (usually the Temp directory under the Windows folder), such as with tools like WinZip. Then the installation proceeds.
If there are oversights in software design or issues with the system, these temporary files may not be "temporary" after installation, becoming a bunch of junk on the hard drive. Often, they appear with the *.tmp extension.
During software operation, some temporary swap files are usually generated, such as backup files like *.old, *.bak created when some programs work, backup files generated by antivirus software or system software when checking the hard drive, etc.
Some help or tutorial files自带 by application software (often with extensions like.hlp), and redundant font files in the operating system. A large number of font files not only take up a lot of space but also seriously slow down the system and some graphics processing software. Additionally, the "System Restore" folder occupies a large amount of disk space.
Since most Windows software uses dynamic link libraries (DLLs), and some software is not very maturely designed, many software, after being uninstalled, often leave some folders, *.dll files, *.hlp files, registry key values, and various unknown small things on the hard drive, becoming genuine junk.
3. Temporary Files Generated While Surfing the Internet
When surfing the internet, the browser downloads some web page files to the local machine, not only occupying valuable disk space but also exposing personal privacy. Additionally, it generates basically useless "waste" such as browsing history, temporary cache files, and Cookies.
How to Delete Junk Files
1. Delete System-Generated Temporary Files
The junk generated during Windows installation and use includes temporary files (such as *.tmp, *._mp, etc.), temporary backup files (such as *.bak, *.old, *.syd, etc.), temporary help files (*.gid), disk check data files (*.chk), and other temporary files like *.dir, *.dmp, *.nch. You can use the system's "Find" function to find these "junk" files on the hard drive and delete them. Method: Select all these files, right-click, and choose Delete. The two temporary folders "C:\Temp" and "C:\WINDOWS\Temp" are also breeding grounds for "junk", containing only temporary files, which can be safely deleted entirely.
2. Delete Uncommonly Used Files
Enter the "Add/Remove Programs" window in "Control Panel" and delete unnecessary program components in the "Add or Remove Windows Components" option. Some program files in the system can also be deleted. For example, in the "C:\WINNT\driver cache\i386" directory of Windows 2000, there is a compressed file named "driver.cab" with a size of about 50+ MB, which is a built-in hardware device driver package. The file named "user.dmp" often causes the computer to malfunction and is of little use, so it can also be deleted. The method for deleting these uncommonly used files is the same as the previous paragraph.
3. Delete the "System Restore" Folder
Although Windows Me/XP's "System Restore" improves system security, as more software is installed and "restore points" are created, its restore backup folder (_Restor) will become larger and larger, wasting a lot of hard drive space. The method to delete the restore backup folder is: Click the "System" option in Control Panel, enter the "System Properties" dialog box, check "Disable System Restore", then open the Registry Editor (Regedit.exe), layer by layer enter "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/System/CurrentControSet/Services/VxD", find the VXDMON key below, delete it all, and restart to delete the large "junk" file "_Restor".
4. Clear Some Junk Information of Running Records
① Clear Program Names in the "Run" List
When using the "Start/Run" command of the Windows operating system, we will find many commands in the "Open" box. Not all of these commands are needed, and some information is easy to expose personal information. If you want to delete the junk information here, expand "HKEY-CURRENT-USER/ Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Explorer/RunMRU" in the Registry Editor. The information in the "Run" dropdown list is displayed on the right side of this registry. To delete a project, right-click the name and choose "Delete". Note: Do not delete the lines where "Default" and "MRUList" are located.
② Clear File Names in the "Documents" Menu
Select → → , open the "Taskbar Properties" dialog box. In this dialog box, select the "Start Menu Programs" tab, then click the "Clear" button. Then the content in the "Documents" list will be completely cleared.
③ Delete Startup Configuration Files
Under the Windows operating system, system startup configuration files like "Autoexec.bat" and "Config.sys" are basically of no use, and you can also delete them. If you are not at ease and don't want to delete them, but for a cleaner system and faster startup, it is best to open these two files with Notepad and clear their contents.
④ Delete Residual Information in the Playback Record of Windows Media Player
After using it for a long time, you will find that the playback dropdown box of Windows Media Player lists the file lists of previously played files. Some information is completely useless and fills up the playback list. The method to delete this useless information is to open the Registry Editor, find "HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/MediaPlayer/Player/ RecentFileList", the playback record will be displayed in the right window, clear all these keys to clear the playback record.
In the same way, we can also delete the junk information in the playback list of RealPlayer and the viewing list information of ACDSee, etc.
5. Delete Residual Files After Software Uninstallation
① Delete the Software Installation Folder
First, find and right-click the software shortcut, select Properties, and click the "Find Target" button in the General tab to quickly find the software's installation directory, such as "C:\Program Files\Kuro\Kuro.exe". Then, in Windows Explorer, find "C:\Program Files\Kuro" and delete it.
② Delete Junk Information in "Add/Remove Programs"
Uninstall an application program through "Add/Remove Programs" in "Control Panel", but sometimes the program remains in the list after uninstallation, and the junk information accumulates more and more over time. Deletion method: Open the "Registry Editor", expand "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SoftwareMicrosoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Uninstall" in sequence, then all items in "Add/Remove Programs" will be displayed on the right side of the screen. Select the junk information item, right-click the value, and choose the "Delete" command in the pop-up menu.
③ Cancel Startup at Boot
If the software to be deleted starts with Windows at boot, then in Windows 98/XP, run Msconfig, start the system configuration tool, click the Startup tab, check if there is a link like "C:\Program Files\Kuro\Kuro.exe" in it, and if so, cancel it. The same can be done in Windows 2000, but you need to copy this file from Windows 98 or Windows XP to the Windows NT directory.
④ Delete File Association Items
In Windows Explorer, select "Tools/Folder Options" under the "File Types" tab, find the file type associated with "C:\Program Files\Kuro\Kuro.exe", and then press the Del key to delete it.
⑤ Open the Registry and Find Keys Related to the Uninstalled Software
Open the Registry, use the Find function to find key values related to the software in the Registry, find and delete them. There may be multiple, and then you can use the F3 shortcut key to continue finding until all items are deleted.
⑥ Use Professional Junk Cleaning Software
"FileClear" is a green free small tool, only 335KB. After downloading, it can be used directly without installation.
The interface of this tool is quite simple, and the running speed is relatively fast. It has the following characteristics: "Scan" can find all junk files on the hard drive that match the extension of junk files, list them one by one for selection whether to delete; "Backup" can back up the selected junk files to the C:\backdel directory. There is also a hjl.bat file, double-clicking it can restore the backup files to the original directory; "Add Type" can add extensions that are considered junk files, and note that the form should be consistent with those listed in the table; files in the temporary directory refer to junk files in C:\windows\temp, which can generally be safely deleted; internet cache files refer to a large number of temporary files generated when surfing the internet, which generally become junk files after going offline and can be deleted.
"Environmental Guardian" is a file cleaning software running under Windows 95/98/NT/2000.
Its feature is that users can define and modify the software to be cleaned, and it will not delete any files without the user's permission, so it has a very high safety factor. The use interface of SafeClean is very friendly, and as long as you can use Windows, you should be able to use SafeClean. SafeClean supports multi-language interfaces (including Chinese, of course), and you can modify the interface to the desired language at any time.
DiskInfo is a supporting hard drive analysis software, which can help you analyze the usage of the hard drive, find the largest subdirectories on the hard drive, etc. The functions of SafeClean include: finding and deleting user-defined file formats; finding and deleting user-defined directories (including the Cache directories of Netscape and IE); finding broken shortcut connections in the startup menu and on the desktop; the progress summary reports the progress at any time; multi-thread technology and better algorithms, plus the Undo function, which can restore mistakenly deleted files.
Delete Temporary Files Generated While Surfing the Internet
Many "junk" are also generated while surfing the internet, including internet browsing history, temporary cache files, Cookies, such as accessed website addresses, logged-in usernames, passwords, or personal information, identity identification, etc.
① Clear Browsing History
The method to clear it is to enter the "Control Panel→Internet Options" dialog box, click the "Delete Files" and "Clear Browsing History" option buttons on the "General" page, or directly delete the content in the "Temporary Internet Files" folder under Windows to achieve the purpose of clearing junk. Additionally, some temporary files are generated while surfing the internet, and they also need to be deleted in the C:\Windows\Temp directory.
② Delete Address Bar List Records
There will be records of visited sites in the dropdown list box of the address bar. To delete the content you don't want, you can use the method of modifying the Registry. Open "Regedit" in the "Run" command of the "Start" menu to open the Registry, expand "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\ InternetExplorer\TypedUrls" in sequence, all subkeys under this key are the historical site records. Find the site records you don't want and delete their contents.
③ Delete Junk Information in the Right-Click Menu
There is a new source code that adds your website name to the right-click menu, which will appear in the pop-up menu when you use the right-click. Although it doesn't affect use, the long right-click menu is also unsightly. The deletion method is: Open the Registry Editor, find "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\InternetExplorer\ MenuExt", delete the annoying URLs in it, and the website names will no longer appear in the right-click.
④ Use 3721 Internet Assistant (Not Recommended)
Using "Internet Assistant", we can delete temporary files and various other unnecessary files left after the system has run for a period of time, save disk space, and improve running speed. You can enter the internet assistant page by entering http://assistant.3721.com/?type=clean in the address bar.
"Internet Assistant" can realize privacy protection functions, which can help us clear web page information left after surfing the internet (including address bar URLs, temporary files, browsing history, usernames, passwords, or search keywords you have entered, etc.). It can also extend this function to clear the recently used document records in the "Start Menu" and the information generated when accessing "Network Neighborhood", etc.
Transferred from the Enthusiasts Forum (IT, computer knowledge exchange platform; the official forum of "Computer Fan").
http://bbs.cfan.com.cn
Part of the content refers to the Enthusiasts Forum <<Computer News>>
