Clean up Unnecessary Files and Optimize the Recycle Bin

You would be amazed that the number of temporary files, temporary Internet files, 'recent documents' list in Windows start menu, download files and log files which Windows XP generates. If you want the hard disk to work in the best possible way, you need to delete all of the junk files from it. An overstuffed hard drive makes Windows XP work harder, so make sure you have a system in place to keep old files and junk cleaned up and removed.

Also, make sure you optimize the Recycle Bin. The size of the recycle bin is a percentage of the hard drive. If you have a 200GB hard drive then 12% of 200GB is 24GB. Who needs a 24GB recycle bin? Follow the following steps to adjust the size of the recycle bin:

1. Right click on the Recycle Bin and choose Properties
2. On the Recycle Bin properties, move the Recycle Bin size slider from 10 percent to 3 or even 1 percent. Remember, this is still a decent amount of storage since you now have a larger disk to work with.
3. Click OK