new laptop questions advice needed

[FluffyChicken]

All this talk of defrag.
Ignore it, it's quick as it will be days .. what a load of bollocks.
No defrag can be quicker to do the same job. It takes time to move files to and fro and that's the limiting step. Though with little space left to move around in it's going to be hard. Only if it defrags differently will it matter. BUT the speed improvements are generally small.
Do it after you've removed everything. Though Vista should already be setup do do things in the background for you.

It will not get you any more space. If the drives full then it's full and defrag is the last thing you want to try.


but if you do want to run it, people are getting way to technical for you.

In 'My Computer' (the view where you can see your drives etc..) Right click on your harddrive and select Properties.
You'll find defrag, though first I would run checkdisk with full options. You may need to reboot.


You still need to make more space no matter what. any big downloads, movies, iplayer downloads etc ?

 

[jonnyboy666]

any big downloads, movies, iplayer downloads etc ?

i have my itunes library, about 1400 tracks, and about 500mb of pics left, i deleted a load thinking it would free up a load of space, it did but only a bit. but it's the music i'm paranoid about losing as i have paid for it.

no movies or iplayer stuff at all.

i like they idea of the memory stick, sounds quite easy, if i look at my itunes library as a file as opposed to open in itunes and then i put that whole library on the memory stick (or whatever) would that mean i then at that point have no music on the laptop? (i know this might be a dumb question!) meaning if i opened itunes there would be nothing in it?

i can upload the pics to photo bucket or whatever which is what i have done with some stuff anyway or again use the memory stick but if i lost them i wouldn't be that upset as a fair lump of the important ones to me are on facebook etc.

so if i do the external harddrive/memory stick/whatever thing how do i then wipe the laptop to start from fresh again?

i apologise for being thick by the way and really appreciate the help!!

 

[FluffyChicken]

For picture and can highly recommend getting Picassa from google and using their web-picture account. The pictures are much higher resolution than facebook. You just import and send them up. Very easy once you get your way around it.

But if you don't have many just write them to a DVD (DVD holds about 4500MB (4.5GB))


As for iTunes the problem is always Digital Rights Management (DRM) so hit their help on what to do with transferring files to another place. Since I don't use it it's hard for me to tell you exactly what to do.

You'll also need to know how much space your files are taking up. Do you use it with an iPod ?

Ok 2 secs in google and
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1382
and heh other links in there and
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1751

 

[legrandefromage]

borrow a computer, let me fix yours and you'll save £££.

I'll only charge you jam or custard donuts