Cleaning Hard to Find Problems in Windows Explorer

Cleaning Hard to Find Problems in Windows Explorer is the third in a series of tips and advice on cleaning your sluggish computer.


Windows Explorer - Windows Explorer is a file manager application that is included with releases of the Microsoft Windows operating system from Windows 95 onwards. It provides a graphical user interface for accessing the file systems. It is also the component of the operating system that presents many user interface items on the monitor such as the taskbar and desktop. Controlling the computer is possible without Windows Explorer running (for example, the File | Run command in Task Manager on NT-derived versions of Windows will function without it, as will commands typed in a command prompt window). It is sometimes referred to as the Windows Shell, explorer.exe, or simply “Explorer”. [Source: Wikipedia]


When installing computer programs, many times they generate temporary files on your computer system. Most likely, you are not aware that these files exist let alone know where they are hiding on your computer. In addition, these files take up space and may be contributing to your computer's sluggishness.


Without further ado, let's see what we can do about those hidden files.

1. From your task bar, go to Start.
2. Click All Programs.
3. Click Accessories.
4. Click Windows Explorer.
5. While in Windows Explorer, click Tools on the menu bar.
6. Click Folder Options.
7. Click the View tab.
8. Under the Hidden Files and Folders folder, click Show Hidden Files and Folders.
9. Click Apply then click OK.
10. Click the Folders button on the toolbar. Folders will display in the left pane.



11. Click on the My Documents folder.
12. Look in the right pane to see if there are any documents that you created that you no longer need. Please ignore the folders in the right pane at this time.
13. Click on one document that you have identified as unnecessary and click the delete key. That document will be sent to the recycle bin.  Repeat these steps for each of the documents that you no longer need.
14. In the list of folders under the My Documents folder in the left pane, click on the Downloads folder.
15. Click anywhere inside the right pane. Note: Please view these files to make sure you want to delete them. If there are one or more files that you do not wish to delete, move (i.e., highlight and drag them or cut and paste) them to another folder or onto your desktop before you proceed.
16. Hold down the ctrl key and without releasing the ctrl key, hit the letter A quickly and release. All of the files in the right pane should now be highlighted (if not, repeat). Note: If you receive a message that says This folder contains hidden files…enable viewing of hidden files in the Folder Options control panel, ignore this message as you have already done this in steps 5 through 9. Just click OK and continue with the following steps.
17. Hit the delete key, and when asked if you want to delete these files, click yes. The files will be sent to the recycle bin. Note: If you receive a Cannot delete message, this means that your are unable to delete one or more files. In this case, click OK. Then, you will have to click on each file individually and hit the delete key one at a time. When you get to a file that cannot be deleted just hit OK and move on to the next file you wish to delete. You may also delete groups of files by clicking on one file, holding down the shift key and clicking on another file possibly at the end of the row. This will highlight all of the files in that row then you can hit the delete key.
18. Go back to the left pane under the My Documents folder and follow steps 11 through 17 for the My Music folder, My Pictures folder, My Videos folder, and the Setup Files folder. Remember: Only delete the files that you do not want in the My Music folder, My Pictures folder, My Videos folder, and the Setup Files folder.
19. Go back to the left pane.
20. Click on the My Computer folder.
21. Click on Local Disk (C:). Note: Your local disk drive may be a different letter.
22. In the list under Local Disk (C:), click on the Temp folder under Local Disk (C:).
23. Click anywhere in the right panel.
24. Hold down the ctrl key and without releasing the ctrl key, hit the letter A quickly and release. All of the files in the right pane should now be highlighted (if not, repeat).
25. Hit the delete key and when asked if you want to delete all files, click yes.
26. Click on the Windows folder under Local Disk (C:) in the left pane.
27. Click on the Downloaded Program Files folder.
28. Click anywhere in the right panel.
29. Hold down the ctrl key and without releasing the ctrl key, hit the letter A quickly and release. All of the files in the right pane should now be highlighted (if not, repeat).
30. Hit the delete key and when asked if you want to delete all files, click yes.
31. Click on the Windows folder under Local Disk (C:) in the left pane.
32. Click on the Temp folder.
33. Click anywhere in the right panel.
34. Hold down the ctrl key and without releasing the ctrl key, hit the letter A quickly and release. All of the files in the right pane should now be highlighted (if not, repeat).
35. Hit the delete key and when asked if you want to delete all files, click yes. Note: If you get an error message when trying to delete click on the files individually and delete each of them. Also, you may not be able to delete some files. It is okay to leave them.


*Please note the names of your files and folders may be slightly different or in different locations.


We are almost at the end of our series. Next, we'll talk about How to Stop Programs from Running in Scheduled Tasks. I promise, it will be short and sweet.


Until then...