Empty out Cache in windows

[shoiji]

How do I go about emptying out my computers cache. I have windows vista home. My computer is bogged down when I first login.

Thanks.

[YankeeMom]

I don't have Vista, but I came across this article and it seems pretty straight forward.

How To: Clear Memory Cache In Windows Vista To Speed Up Your Computer | TomsTricks.Com

[Gabe]

I would recommend running defrag on your computer.
Here are instructions from Microsoft.

Defrag should be run once a month at least. IMHO


Improve performance by defragmenting your hard disk


also from a website with some good input.

How often should I defragment if I’m on-line for at least an hour every day?

If you are on-line frequently you should regularly clean your PC with antivirus and with spyware/malware detection and removal tools. You should also use 'disk cleanup' at least monthly, to remove the debris and unnecessary files which accumulate on your PC, but that's regardless of whether you're on-line or not.

If, after all that, you notice your PC is starting to slow down a bit, then you should defragment. There's no point in defragmenting unless you are suffering performance loss from file fragmentation. Defragmentation finds all the bits and pieces of your files and moves them all so that each file is together in the one spot. That speeds up file access, of course, because the heads of the hard drive don't need to jump about all over the place to read each file.

My suggestion would be to defragment only when you need to. On-line activity will cause a reasonable amount of ‘temporary’ files to be written to the hard drive, and may shorten the period between defrags for you, but there’s no fixed formula you need to follow.

How often should I defrag?

[shoiji]

Gabe, HHHUUUUHHHH??????

[mndtrp]

Install ccleaner, unchecking the option for the yahoo toolbar. Once opened, default settings are fine. It will analyze your computer, and remove most unnecessary crap (hence, crapcleaner).

CCleaner - Optimization and Cleaning - Free Download

Defrag is a good idea. I use Smartdefrag, which reports say is far better than the one that came with windows. Install with default settings. Check the drives you want to defrag, choose "deep optimize" in the drop down for the first time, and click "start". After the first time, choose "defrag only" from the drop down.

Disk Defrag | Smart Defrag | Free Disk Defragmenter | Best Defragment Server


I do both of these about once a month.

CCleaner also has a section to disable certain programs from startup, but if you aren't comfortable with the computer, I would avoid this feature. However, things like Adobe and Quicktime starting up unnecessarily each time you boot will slow your computer down.

[starsapphire]

Install ccleaner, unchecking the option for the yahoo toolbar. Once opened, default settings are fine. It will analyze your computer, and remove most unnecessary crap (hence, crapcleaner).

CCleaner - Optimization and Cleaning - Free Download

Defrag is a good idea. I use Smartdefrag, which reports say is far better than the one that came with windows. Install with default settings. Check the drives you want to defrag, choose "deep optimize" in the drop down for the first time, and click "start". After the first time, choose "defrag only" from the drop down.

Disk Defrag | Smart Defrag | Free Disk Defragmenter | Best Defragment Server


I do both of these about once a month.

CCleaner also has a section to disable certain programs from startup, but if you aren't comfortable with the computer, I would avoid this feature. However, things like Adobe and Quicktime starting up unnecessarily each time you boot will slow your computer down.

I second CCleaner. It works really well.

[Gabe]

You can clear out your cache in windows by doing the following easy steps.
(this works on windows xp, windows vista and windows 7)

1. Right click on your desktop and create a shortcut.



In the location of the item path put:
%windir%\system32\rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks


Give a name to the shortcut example: Clear Cache


Anytime you need to clear the cache just Double click on the shortcut and it should clear your cache.

[shoiji]

OK. Thanks. That is much easier for me to understand. I need things idiot proof.

Will try it.

[Gabe]

OK. Thanks. That is much easier for me to understand. I need things idiot proof.

Will try it.

You should still defrag your hard drive once a month.
Especially if you spend alot of time online.

Basically temporary internet files get created and deleted on an ongoing basis. This makes the data on the hard drive fragmented. So instead of having the data lined up nicely it will be all over the plate on the hard drive.

So your hard drive will spend alot more time aligning and reading the data that it needs to find.

Hope this help as to why you should defragment the drive.

(I did post instructions on my first post on how to do that and reference instructions from microsoft)
If your harddrive spends alot of time seeking the information it is less responsive so it might make your computer slower.