See also ???Optimize Virtual Memory and Cache Settings??? and
???A Defragmentation Crash Course,??? both later in this chapter,
for other things you can do to speed up your hard drive
and help Windows load more quickly.
Lastly, a new hard disk will give you dramatically more disk space, and a
faster hard disk can improve boot time considerably. If you??™re on the fence
Trim the Fat | 213
Performance
about replacing that older drive, consider the performance boost as well as
the sorely needed space.
Clean out your Temp folder
Sometimes having too many files in Windows??™ Temp folder can not only
slow Windows startup, but in extreme cases, can prevent Windows from
loading at all. Windows and your applications use this folder to temporarily
store data while you??™re working with documents. When those applications
and documents are closed (or when the applications just crash), they often
leave the temporary files behind, and they accumulate fast.
By default, Vista has two Temp folders:
C:\Users\{your_user_name}\AppData\Local\Temp
C:\Windows\Temp
although the first is used almost exclusively by Windows and your applications.
To clear out your old temporary files, open Windows Explorer, navigate
to the Temp folder, and delete anything more than a day old. (Windows
won??™t let you delete any files that are still in use.)
Another way to clear out the Temp folder is to use the Disk Cleanup tool
(cleanmgr.exe); after selecting your Windows drive from the Drives list (usually
C:), select Temporary files in the Files to delete list, and click OK.
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