Cleaning Up Disk Space

Even if you have a lot of disk space, it is a good idea to remove unneeded files on a regular basis as a good housekeeping practice and to help your anti-virus and anti-malware scans complete faster. If you’re tight on disk space, it is a must. Here are two tasks you should complete on a regular basis.

Run Windows Disk Cleanup

• For Windows, click Start / All Programs / Accessories / Systems Tools / Disk Cleanup.
• Change the disk if desired and click OK. On the Disk Cleanup tab of the Disk Cleanup window, Windows will list the files eligible for deletion.
• Check the following boxes: Temporary Internet Files, Temporary Files, and Web Client / Publisher Temporary Files.
• Do NOT compress old files or delete the contents of the Recycle Bin. If the Recycle bin is quite full, manually clean it up at a later time.
• Click OK and click Yes.

Cleanup Browser Work Files

CHROME

• Open Chrome and in the upper right corner click three vertical dots More.
• Click More tools and click Clear browsing data.
• Select a time frame or All time.
• Choose the types of data you wish to delete and click Clear data

INTERNET EXPLORER

• On the top menu line, click Tools / Internet Options.
• On the General tab, in the Browsing history section, click Delete.
• Then click Delete all at the bottom. Alternately, you can click individual items, but Delete all is recommended.
• Click Yes, and when Internet Explorer is finished, click OK.
  

FIREFOX

On the top menu line, click Tools / Clear Private Data.

To customize what Private Data is cleared, follow these instructions:

• Click Tools / Options.
• Click the Privacy tab and, in the Private Data section, click Settings.
• Put a check mark by the items you want cleared when you specify Clear Private Data. Unless you use Offline Website Data, it would not hurt to check every box.
  

On the Privacy tab, you can also choose settings regarding Cookies. A good compromise between privacy and security is to check Accept cookies from sites, de-select Accept third-party cookies, and after Keep Until, choose "I close Firefox." Then click OK.