Win 95 / 98 Basic Maintenance:

Keeping you machine clean and uncluttered will improve speed and ease of operation. A general maintenance routine follows.

1. Delete old mail from your Internet Mail Program.
-----Note that in some programs like Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express
-----and Netscape Mail there is a Folder called Deleted Items that is the final
-----resting place of items you delete from your In Box and your Sent Items
-----folder. Once you delete your old E-Mail from the Deleted Items Folder,
-----they are gone.

Internet Explorer: IE5.X Cache and History:
-----------

-----------A. Open Internet Explorer
-----------B. Select View/Internet Options
-----------C. Press Delete Files and then answer OK.
-----------D. Press Clear History and answer Yes.
Now if you haven't already, optimize your settings for both of these areas.
-----------E. In the same window, View/Internet Options select Settings.
______________Now you see an adjustment for the Amount of Disk Space.           ______________Move this slider all the way to the left.
______________You want to select the lowest possible amount of trash    ______________Accumulating in your Hard Drive. 1%.
______________Close the window by selecting OK.
__________F. Now back down to the settings for History.
--------------Set the option of "Days to keep pages in history"
--------------to "0" or "1" to keep the level of clutter to a minimum.
__________G. Select Apply at the bottom right and then select OK to close the --------------window.               ( Finished! )

Internet Explorer: IE4.X Cache and History:
-----------

-----------A. Open Internet Explorer
-----------B. Select View/Internet Options
-----------C. Press Delete Files and then answer OK.
-----------D. Press Clear History and answer Yes.
Now if you haven't already, optimize your settings for both of these areas.
-----------E. In the same window, View/Internet Options select Settings.
______________Now you see an adjustment for the Amount of Disk Space.           ______________Move this slider all the way to the left.
______________You want to select the lowest possible amount of trash    ______________Accumulating in your Hard Drive. 1%.
______________Close the window by selecting OK.
__________F. Now back down to the settings for History.
--------------Set the option of "Days to keep pages in history"
--------------to "0" or "1" to keep the level of clutter to a minimum.
__________G. Select Apply at the bottom right and then select OK to close the --------------window.               ( Finished! )

Internet Explorer 3.x
( I'm somewhat guessing on this one but it should be pretty close)
__________A.Open IE3.
__________B.Select View / Internet Options / Advanced / Settings                   __________C.Select Empty Folder
__________D.To empty the History folder Select Navigation Clear History.             _______________________( Finished ! )

Netscape Navigator 4.x
__________A. Open Navigator.
__________B. Select Edit/Preferences
__________C. Click on the "+" next to Advanced.
__________D. Select Cache
__________E. Press Clear Memory Cache and answer OK.
__________F. Press Clear Disk Cache and answer OK.
__________G. Once again select OK at the bottom of the window.
_______________________( Finished! )

Netscape Navigator 3.x
__________A. Open Navigator 3.x
__________B. Select Options Network preferences
__________C. Press Clear Memory Cache and answer OK.
__________D. Press Clear Disk Cache and answer OK.
__________E. Once again select OK at the bottom of the window.
______________________( Finished! )

3. Empty the Recycle Bin!

4. Now! Defrag your C: drive!

In Win95 the easiest way to run defrag is to go to:
Start / Run and type defrag and hit enter.
Select to defrag C: first, and then any other partitions of your HD
that you have.
When Windows tells you "Your Drive is only x.% fragmented, you don't need to do it now"...DO IT ANYWAY! I won't go into it now...trust me...do it.
When defrag has finished it's task select Yes to quit.        

In Win98 you can go to Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Disk Defragmenter. When defrag has finished it's task select Yes to quit.

OK! That's it! You're machine is clean and optimized.

Final Notes:
Running this maintenance routine weekly or monthly, depending on how much you use your machine, will keep it in tip top shape,and it will become easy and second nature as you begin to remember the steps.

Compiled by: Steve Karl    4/20/99

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