Put Windows XP on a Diet to Drop Hard Drive Bloat
In an effort to be helpful Microsoft has filled Windows XP with all sorts of helpful applications. However, it is common knowledge that these helpful applications and be just a little too controlling or have other nasty effects on your system. Some of the more well know dead weight (as long as you're not using them)scoundrels are MSN Explorer, Outlook Express e-mail client, and Internet Explorer browser. These hard drive space squatters can eat up as much as 15-20 megs of precious storage space.
Here's how to toss them.
Navigate to Start > Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs
Next - click on Add/Remove Windows Components on the left-hand side of the window. You can uncheck options that you do not use, such as Outlook Express, MSN Explorer, and, of course, Messenger.
After unchecking your selections, click Next and XP will busy itself reconfiguring removing your selections and freeing up drive space. Don't be surprised if you're asked to restart your computer.
Warning:
Removing items such as Networking can leave you with a disconnected computer.
If you want to control more components in XP, try the utility in Add or Remove Programs that comes with Microsoft's Service Pack 1. Click Start, then All Programs, then near the top of the column click on Set Program Access and Defaults. From here you can set your default browser, music player, and messenger, among other things.
Oct 14 - 
04:52 PM PT | filed under Maintenance | 
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