Files and Folder Tips

Keeping all the files and folders neatly and efficiently arranged can help tremendously in speeding up the performance of a PC. There are several reasons this can improve your PC's performance.

File Fragmentation

Think of your hard drive like a filing cabinet. When the computer is new, the files and folders are neatly arranged, in order, in just one or two drawers of the cabinet. The size of the drive determines how many drawers the cabinet has, and in a new system that can be quite a few.

As Windows accesses files, it makes copies of the files from the folders and takes them out of the drawer to use. In many cases, Windows makes notes on the files (changes) while it is using them. When Windows is finished with the files, it is not allowed to just put the file back in the original location, because the changes made MAY make the file larger, so it won't fit in the original location. So What Windows does is take the copies that have not changed and delete them, deletes original copies of the files that may have changed and puts the files that may have changed in new folders in a different location, but saves the new location in the original location (sort of a - "bookmark" pointer.)

This process is repeated every time Windows needs to access a file. For files that are frequently used, this process gets repeated over and over, until there are parts of the files scattered throughout the cabinet. You can imagine how inefficient it is to have to go to so many locations to assemble the pieces of the file every time it is used. Remember, there are hundreds or thousands of files and thousands of folders on your computer that this is happening to.

This process is called "file fragmentation" and can seriously impact the time it takes to access the files, slowing down the computer. Fragmentation can be visibly observed by watching the hard drive activity light, usually located on the PC's front panel. If the light is on a lot while the computer is not doing much, that is a good sign that fragmentation is an issue.

The solution to fragmentation is naturally called de-fragmentation, the process of rearranging all the files back into an orderly file and folder arrangement, and should be a regular part of computer maintenance. Since Windows 98, Microsoft has included a program to allow users to defragment their computer's hard drive, but it was up to the user to run it. Later versions of Windows (starting with Vista) scheduled defragmentation on a schedule.

There are only two problems with that: the defragmentation program was not very good at what it did, and the process was scheduled to run in the middle of the night, when most people had turned off their computers. Not very useful.

Windows 7 schedules defragmentation when the computer is not busy, but the program is still not very good. Windows 8 is somewhat better, but still leaves something to be desired. Windows 10's defragmenter is somewhat better, and is almost passable. I do not defragment my pc anymore unless it gets really messed up, but I do check on it every so often using the tools listed in the next paragraph

There are many defragmentation programs available, Defraggler is one of the highest rated. It has a freeware version as well as a paid and commercial version. Another good defragmentation program is MyDefrag, a free utility.

Temporary and junk file clutter

During normal operations, Windows creates many temporary files it uses to work. Virtually all applications and Windows updates also use temporary files while they are running. These files accumulate and take up disc space even though they are no longer used for anything. Over time, they can use up a significant amount of space, increasing the time it takes to access the rest of the data.

By eliminating these temporary files, you can free up space that the defragmentation program can use to move files into, making the file space more compact. The question is, where are these temporary files stored, and do I have rights to delete them?

The files themselves are located in several locations, some of which are hidden by default. The easiest way to delete them is with a specialized file clean-up program. One of the best is TFC which is a freeware utility. Make sure to close all running applications, and you will probably have to reboot when it is done. It tells you how much space it reclaimed from each location that it cleans.

Windows Desktop Backgrounds

The pictures you use as a background screen can have an effect on performance, especially if it is a high-resolution photograph. The background picture is loaded into the computer's memory (RAM) and if it is very large, can have a significant impact on the resources the computer has to work with.

If you think this might be the case, use the task manager to check how much memory is in use, change the background to one of the built-in pictures or schemes, reboot, and see if there is a noticeable difference in performance or memory usage. If so, you might want to consider making the change permanent.

If performance seems to be about the same, then feel free to go back to your own background scheme.

Desktop files and folders

If you have a lot of actual files and folders on your desktop (NOT shortcuts, which do not have an impact on performance), and those files and folders are large, there could be a significant impact on performance.

Your desktop is loaded into memory when the computer starts up, and if there are large files and folders with large files (I have seen desktops with very many picture folders with hundreds of pictures in them) or many files, performance can be negatively impacted.

It is better to have the files and folders stored within your user profile (every different computer user has their own) and have shortcuts to them on the desktop so those files do not have to reside in memory. Simply move them to the Pictures or Documents or Videos folder(s) and create shortcuts to them on the desktop.

Once you reboot, the computer should be noticeably faster. This will also help make things easier if you are going to back up your data files for safety.

Backing up your files

Should catastrophe strike, and render your computer useless, a good file backup can minimize the inconvenience. With the relatively cheap and easy availability of backup media (external hard drives, USB Flash drives, automated cloud storage, etc.) backing up your computer is easier than ever.

First, you should know that unless you image your PC, you cannot easily back up your programs, because they need to be installed, and the installation process modifies the files on your computer as well as the registry. Those changed files and settings cannot just be copied back onto a computer that may have just had an operating system reinstalled.

You can, and should, back up your data files, because those are the files that contain the valuable information. Your documents, pictures, music and videos, as well as the downloaded files from the Internet or emails, can all be put back in their places after the original applications are re-installed.

Get into the habit of backing up our data on a regular basis. Once it is a 'habit' you will be better prepared to handle a hard disc failure better than most. By the way, data recovery from crashed drives is a very expensive proposition.