[hvh]

Hello,

It's the end of the academic year and before going to the next year I would like to give my laptop a clean up. So far, I have moved all of my assessments and other word documents and powerpoints to my external hard drive and deleted them from my laptops memory (I don't know if this is exactly neccessary, but I don't see the point on keeping them on here)

& I've given the outside a general clean - screen, fan dust ect.

I have also downloaded and used CC cleaner - which improved the speed of my laptop incredibly! I was wondering is this something I should run every month to keep that kind of speed?

Is there anything else I should do? I have a lot of programs on here that I really have no idea what they do but I don't want to delete anything I shouldn't.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I want to look after my laptop as I know that I won't be in a position to replace it anytime soon. Btw, it's a Samsung laptop and runs windows - not sure which one, but defo after vista.

[Iqbal007]

(Original post by hvh)
Hello,

It's the end of the academic year and before going to the next year I would like to give my laptop a clean up. So far, I have moved all of my assessments and other word documents and powerpoints to my external hard drive and deleted them from my laptops memory (I don't know if this is exactly neccessary, but I don't see the point on keeping them on here)

& I've given the outside a general clean - screen, fan dust ect.

I have also downloaded and used CC cleaner - which improved the speed of my laptop incredibly! I was wondering is this something I should run every month to keep that kind of speed?

Is there anything else I should do? I have a lot of programs on here that I really have no idea what they do but I don't want to delete anything I shouldn't.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I want to look after my laptop as I know that I won't be in a position to replace it anytime soon. Btw, it's a Samsung laptop and runs windows - not sure which one, but defo after vista.

CC cleaner is something you should run regularly, because you don't know what you've put in.

Have you used a air compressor to clear out the dust within the laptop?
The heatsink would be covered in it, I recently did it to my sisters, which she's had for 3 years, loads of build up, than replaced the thermal paste on the processor to a better one, so the processor is cooler and runs better.

[hvh]

(Original post by Iqbal007)
CC cleaner is something you should run regularly, because you don't know what you've put in.

Have you used a air compressor to clear out the dust within the laptop?
The heatsink would be covered in it, I recently did it to my sisters, which she's had for 3 years, loads of build up, than replaced the thermal paste on the processor to a better one, so the processor is cooler and runs better.

Okay, you've lost me at heatsink! By clean the outside, I mean I got a cloth and wiped it down so it no longer has toast crumbs and dust on it. :/ You have to clean the inside too? Hmm.

[Iqbal007]

(Original post by hvh)
Okay, you've lost me at heatsink! By clean the outside, I mean I got a cloth and wiped it down so it no longer has toast crumbs and dust on it. :/ You have to clean the inside too? Hmm.

The heatsink is this metallic thing like this

As you can see cos of the fan inside, the dust builds up heavily and affects performance....the heatsink is on top of the processor with extended copper wires, to vent the heat out.

[TLK]

(Original post by hvh)
Hello,

It's the end of the academic year and before going to the next year I would like to give my laptop a clean up. So far, I have moved all of my assessments and other word documents and powerpoints to my external hard drive and deleted them from my laptops memory (I don't know if this is exactly neccessary, but I don't see the point on keeping them on here)

& I've given the outside a general clean - screen, fan dust ect.

I have also downloaded and used CC cleaner - which improved the speed of my laptop incredibly! I was wondering is this something I should run every month to keep that kind of speed?

Is there anything else I should do? I have a lot of programs on here that I really have no idea what they do but I don't want to delete anything I shouldn't.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I want to look after my laptop as I know that I won't be in a position to replace it anytime soon. Btw, it's a Samsung laptop and runs windows - not sure which one, but defo after vista.

Well if you want to improve the performance, you could disable all aero effects. Also does CCleaner have a defrag? I tend to use AVG PC Tuneup which is really helpful since it has many options.

[hvh]

I think I should have posted in the forum "Computers for the technologically retarded"

Anyway, I guess I have to take my laptop apart to clean the heat sink.. which doesn't sound too fun for me, I don't want to break anything!

And I have no idea if CCleaner has a defrag - whats the benefit of defraging?

[Iqbal007]

(Original post by hvh)
I think I should have posted in the forum "Computers for the technologically retarded"

Anyway, I guess I have to take my laptop apart to clean the heat sink.. which doesn't sound too fun for me, I don't want to break anything!

And I have no idea if CCleaner has a defrag - whats the benefit of defraging?

there should a outlined bit on the back with screws, which isn't hard, takes couple of minutes, but remember to unscrew the heatsink, though it would be better for you to get it out without having to as you havent got thermal paste.

[TLK]

(Original post by hvh)
I think I should have posted in the forum "Computers for the technologically retarded"

Anyway, I guess I have to take my laptop apart to clean the heat sink.. which doesn't sound too fun for me, I don't want to break anything!

And I have no idea if CCleaner has a defrag - whats the benefit of defraging?

I don't think CCleaner has a defrag option.
Here its from the same people who made CCleaner
http://www.piriform.com/defraggler

Benefits are that it speeds up data access (you may not be able to tell the difference), increases your hard drive life since the read/write head won't be moving as much, your programs should launch quicker. I think it also speeds up boot/shutdown times, although I'm not 100% sure on that.

[hvh]

Thanks for your help guys, will give both a go when I'm off work on Monday

[AmyJ]

Re-installing your operating system will refresh your machine and speed it up a bit - just make sure you put all your files and important documents onto an external drive!!