Two main possibilities exist for cleaning out a hard disk of unwanted items; firstly you could delete files
by hand, however if that doesnt work for you, there are always software tools that can help. Cleaning
the drive manually means walking through the directory tree, ie. file folders and
then making a decision about which data files can go, and deleting them based on
your decisions about each item. This is less risky than automated methods but can
be repetitive and time intensive. You can use software cleanup products that make
use of system dates which include file properties, last opened dates, etc. and use
this information to build a list of the files that are then used to clean up the
drive with no user intervention.
An enormous range of cleaning tools exist that approach the drive cleaning process
in their own manner. Many shareware programs can help you clean harddrive most
of which have other related cleaning functions. Also remember that there is much
more that these utilities are able to do, there are many that also get rid of old
data from free space, clean up porn files, find unlicensed software installed on
the computer, and show where drive space is being used.
Regardless of the fact that doing a computer cleanup generally has a positive outcome,
we must think about the negatives too, prior to rushing in. We have to think about
the fact that personal files may accidentally be erased by the software tools we
may be using, or accidentally by the user. Remember too that the removal of any excess
files using either method, takes your time, more so when cleaning manually but even
using software for the task will take time as well. These are minor issues though
and the gains are good compensation for any downsides.