Clean
those unwanted temporary internet files!
Whenever you visit a website,
Windows downloads a copy of it to your local hard drive.
If you visit
that page again windows will pull it from a “temporary” file and
display it. Windows does this rather than re-downloading the images and
the text every time (which would be painfully slow). Over time these files can build up and become quite a burden
on your hard disk. It is good to clear these files, every two weeks
or so. If you are an infrequent browser, once a month should be fine.
This issue’s
Windows tip is on how to clean out your temporary files.
Before
we start, make sure you can see your “desktop”.
This is the screen that has all your icons like “My Computer”
“Recycle Bin” and “My Documents”.
1)
There should be an icon that looks like a small blue “e” and has the
name “Internet Explorer” typed below it. Using the right mouse button (the mouse button you don’t
normally click with), Click on the big blue “e” icon.
This should bring up a small menu.
2)
Towards the bottom of the menu, you should see an option called “Properties”. Click
on “Properties” (you can click like you normally do now).
You should now have
a window open called “Internet Properties”.
3)
On the “General” tab across the top of the window there is a section
called “Temporary Internet files”.
That section should contain a button that says “Delete Files…”,
click on that button.
4)
The system will then ask you if you if you are really sure you want to
do this, and will also give you the opportunity to delete all “offline
content”. Just
ignore the check box and click “OK”
Depending
on how long ago it was before the last time you did this it may take
several minutes. The
computer may operate slowly
and the mouse may stop responding during this time. Don’t
panic!
This is normal, just let the computer finish cleaning your “temp
files” and the computer will relinquish control back to you.
When this is done, you should be able to simply click “OK” at
the
bottom of “Internet Properties to close it.
