Bits and Pieces

I have a bit of a tip for the last blog post about Dropbox, if you happened to delete a file by accident from your Dropbox folder and you need it back, What you can do is, before you log on to one of your other devices linked to your Dropbox account, disconnect it from the internet. Once you log on, retrieve the file you need then save it to an alternate location than your Dropbox folder because once you connect online again Dropbox will sync and delete it from the Dropbox file on that device.


A couple of problems I have encountered, helping people with the issue of a slow computer is a build up of deleted data.  "Newbie" users, who are using Outlook express or Outlook to read their Emails (Windows XP is Outlook Express and Windows Vista or Windows 7 will be Outlook, both are similar programs) delete an email, however this email is not deleted completely, it is put into a deleted items folder and remains in there. 
I have found some deleted items folders with over 300 deleted emails sitting in there. You can either go into your deleted items folder and manually delete the items or you can set  Outlook Express to empty the deleted messages when you exit the program. 
To set up this process. When you are on your mail page, choose Tools, Options. On the Maintenance tab, select Empty Messages From The 'Deleted Items' Folder On Exit. 
You may also get a message from time to time saying that windows would like to compact your files to save on disc space, it is a good idea to do this.


A similar situation exists with your deleted items recycle bin. Your deleted items will sit in your bin until it is emptied. You can empty the bin by right clicking on your recycle bin icon and choose  "empty your recycle bin". 
There are methods that allow you to delete items without sending them to the recycle bin, but I would not recommend this, as it makes these files very hard to retrieve if needed.


I will explain next time why all this excess data becomes an issue, and how to keep your computer hard drive clean and running smooth.