Start Clean. Stay Clean

Start Clean. Stay Clean. What does that mean?

When your computer was brand new (or when you erase the hard drive and reinstall the operating system), it's clean. As programs are added, removed, upgraded and used, files are added, removed and changed on the hard drive.

Over time, the contents of the hard drive, that is the hard drive image, can become quite a mess. Especially if one is careless about the way they add, remove and upgrade programs and add, remove or modify data files.

The idea behind start clean, stay clean is to be careful to keep the hard drive image from becoming a mess.

What's a hard drive?
A hard drive is a physical device that is present in all modern computers and is used as a storage closet for all the programs and data on the computer. As long as the hard drive is working properly, it retains all the programs and data even when the computer is turned off.

What is a hard drive image?
It is the collection of all program and data files on the hard drive at a given point in time. Another way of thinking about it is as a snapshot of the contents of the hard drive at any moment.

Why should I keep my hard drive image clean?

• better performance
• greater reliability
• easier to fix software problems

How do I keep my hard drive image clean?

• don't add programs you do not need
• remove programs you do not use
• avoid having multiple versions of the same program
• defragment your hard drive regularly
• store your data files in an organized fashion
• develop and use good judgement

Don't add programs you don't need:

Be discriminating about the programs you add to your computer. Be especially discriminating about where you get the programs you do add. Do not allow other people to add programs or games using disks from an unknown source. They often contain viruses from the computer used to make them.

Do not add screensavers, wallpapers, and other stuff not needed to conduct your business on your computer. While no software coming from anywhere is 100% safe, some sources are more safe than others.

Some generally accepted safe sources for software:

• The software manufacturer's CDs
• Software included with books you buy
• http://www.download.com
• http://www.tucows.com

Some sources of software considered unsafe:

• Software offered in email advertisements
• Home-burned CDs and diskettes
• Pop-up windows you encounter when visiting web sites that offer to automatically install software

Remove programs you do not use:

• If you never use a program on your computer, remove it.
• Always use the Add/Remove Software choice inside of the Windows Control Panel to remove it
• Never just delete the folders containing the program from within Windows Explorer

Avoid having multiple versions of the same program:

Some programs are designed so that it is ok and will not cause problems if you install more than one version of the same program on your computer. However, this is the exception and not the norm. If in doubt, contact the manufacturer after you have read their instructions.

Usually there is absolutely no reason to have multiple versions of the same program on your computer. One common concern that causes people to install multiple versions is to make sure they can access their data files.

However this is not usually a good reason. Most modern programs are designed so that newer versions will read data files created by older versions and convert them to a format acceptable by the newer version. Some even include the ability to convert data files created with the newer version into a format that is compatible with older versions of the same program.

Defragment your hard drive regularly:

A complete explanation of what file fragmentation is and how it occurs and how defragmentation is accomplished is well beyond the scope of this page.

An oversimplified explanation is that files start life on your computer by having the whole contents of every file all on one spot on your hard drive. As the computer is used, some files are deleted and this creates available space. In order to use this space, the operating system will take new files and break them into pieces that are then stored in chunks that fill in the empty spaces. This causes files to be fragmented.

Fragmentation is normal and will occur no matter what you do. If only a small percentage of the files on the hard drive are fragmented, its no big deal. But over time, more and more files become fragmented and this will slow your computer down significantly. The solution is to regularly run a defragmentation program This software finds each of the pieces of each file and pulls them all back together again and puts these pieces in one place where they can be accessed faster.

All Windows versions since Windows 95 include a defragmentation program. This program is usually found under Accessories, System Tools and is called Disk Defragmenter or something similar.

NOTE: Close all your other programs before running Disk Defragmenter since it will be moving about a bazillion pieces of many files around on the hard drive. Often and especially if you have not run Disk Defragmenter regularly, it will take a long time (sometimes many hours) before it will completely defrag the contents of a hard drive. Its not uncommon for it to take more than a day to complete its work the first time it is run. Be aware of that when you start the program. Yes, you can stop it in the middle but then what have you accomplished?

Store your files in an organized fashion:

All versions of Windows since Windows 95 have automatically created a folder on the hard drive called My Documents. This is a starting location for keeping all of your data files that you create using programs in one place.

However, not all of your data is actually stored there. In fact, by default, many Microsoft programs do not store the data you create in My Documents but instead in some other folder buried deep in other places.

Try to keep all your data files that you create -- like word processing documents, spreadsheets and the like in one place. If you like, use My Documents for that purpose.

You can create sub-folders contained within My Documents to segment different files of different types. Or you can create sub-folders to segment documents by user or any other scheme you devise. Once you have devised your plan, stick to it. Enforce others using it as well. Over time, as more and more files are created, you will begin to appreciate doing things this way because files will be easier to find, easier to backup and easier to manage in general.

Develop and use good judgement:

This is a good rule to follow in all areas of life including the use and management of your computer system. Unfortunately it takes effort. Effort to learn, effort to continue to learn and effort to execute.

However, bear in mind that your computer is the most sophisticated device ever devised by human beings. As such, this tried and true advice of developing and using good judgement is magnified in the use of computers.

If something seems to be too good to be true, it often is a bogus scheme to steal your time and money or trick you into doing something that will end up costing you more time and money than it saves.

Since time is your most valuable possession and you have more control over your time than anything else in life, develop your judgement and use your time as wisely as you know how.

Always strive to become more educated as this is truely the only way to use your time more effectively. But if you are short on time, hire someone to help you as there is more than any of us can ever learn in one lifetime.

All of the above is a start but there is more:

If you are using a standalone computer or even if your computer is part of a network, using the above information and practicing it as part of your everyday computer use should help you significantly. But as always, there is more to learn and there is absolutely no substitute for experience.

Other concepts to use in business computing:

• Make sure all computers on network are clean
• Standardize all application programs
• Store all data on a fileserver not on local machines
• Delete all draft copies of files created
• Do not change configurations unnecessarily
• Do not add screensavers, wallpapers, etc.
• Use a "scratch" directory and empty it often
• Never remove programs in Windows Explorer
• Do not add games to business computers
• Use a test computer to try new stuff out
• Never open spam email but do delete it
• Do not delete files you don't know about
• Upgrading software rarely fixes existing problems
• Be very discriminating about who you let work on your computers and expect to pay handsomely for excellent resources.

If you want to hire me to address your specific needs, I am available on an hourly or contract basis.

But be aware that I am a solutions oriented person, I love what I do, I get the job done and almost everyone who uses me once, uses me again.

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