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Maintaining your Windows PC
Jayesh Limaye, Nov 09, 2008 1804 hrs ISTIf it is a Windows PC, it has to slow down over a period of time, unless you choose to do as we say.
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A Windows XP computer is like a car, it requires maintenance to keep it running smoothly. A Windows XP PC needs to be 'well-oiled' using the methods that we are going to mention in this article.
Organize files and folders (to be done on Windows installation)
Files keep accumulating in a computer and it is a good idea to organize them in proper folders that are easy to access and bring information to your fingertips.
Windows XP usually stores most of your files inside the My Documents folder, which is located on the C drive. You should first relocate this folder to another drive such as D, so that your data remains intact even when you reinstall Windows.
To do this, create a folder such as MyDocs in the D drive, right-click on My Documents, click on Properties, enter D:\MyDocs in the Target box and click OK. You will be asked whether you wish to move all the files to the new location, click Yes.
You should then create folders such as Work, Shopping, Home, etc in My Documents to store files regarding these topics. Once you create this structure, move the relevant files to this new folder structure. Windows already has a good way of organizing files - there is My Pictures to store images, My Music to store music etc, but you can create additional folders inside these to categorize your pictures, music, so it becomes very easy to locate them.
If you want to search faster, you can install Windows Desktop Search from http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/desktopsearch/choose/windowsdesktopsearch.mspx. This tool indexes your files for faster retrieval. You can also use Google Desktop Search or Copernicus.
You should also relocate your default Outlook mail and address book store folder to the D drive (assuming that you use Outlook as your email client). Open the registry editor and go to the appropriate key according to the version of Outlook. If you're using Outlook 2003, locate registry key [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook]. If you're using Outlook XP, locate registry key [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Outlook]. If you're using Outlook 2000, locate registry key [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Outlook]. Create an expandable string value REG_EXPAND_SZ called "ForcePSTPath", and set it equal to the full path of the required personal folder directory such as D:\MyMail (you need to create this destination beforehand). Exit the registry and log out of Windows for the changes to take effect.
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