Hi Once Again,
Either I'm a tad slower than once thought or "basic"
is a very grey area. Many of these questions posted are way beyond me.
Anyway, I realize there are many variables but, in general, what % of hard
drive space needs to be used before performance begins to be affected?
Also, why do windows overlap one another when I'm on the web? I'll
finish with one site, close it, & the previous site is still there?
Thanks
Windows requires 15% free space to run a disk maintenance tool (disk
defragmenter). So that's the reference that I use managing my system.
There are default settings for reserved space that are based on % of total
hard drive space. The size of today's hard drives compared to those
available when the default values were established cause the amount of
space reserved to be excessive.
Example: 10-12% is the default for Recycle Bin. On a 100GB that means 10GB
is reserved for files you don't even want. Reduce that amount. If you are
in the habit of using Recycle Bin as a place to store files that you
haven't decided to delete permanently, don't. Instead make a "save2delete"
folder. Review the contents of the folder every so often and permanently
delete unwanted files and move "keepers" to permanent homes.
Internet Options: Don't really need this to be large at all and is
notorious for collecting garbage that can interfere with the browser
working efficiently. I have high speed internet. Theoretically, I could set
to 0MB since I can quickly reload pages but I keep it at 100MB.
System Restore: There is no set size of a single restore point. Size varies
based on the complexity of the individual machine's configuration. I turn
of monitoring on all drives/partitions except for the one that holds the
Windows folder. The size is 500MB on my system and gives me a healthy
number of restore points to choose from.
For the overlapping windows: From an open Internet Explorer window
(assuming that is your browser), click Tools> Internet Options> Advanced.
Under Browsing, place a check in the box for "reuse windows for launching
shortcuts" and click OK. There will still be situations that will still
cause a second or third Internet Explorer window to open but that change
will get rid of most of the extras.
