Keep Your Lap (and top) Clean

Well, clearing and defragging the hard drive, at least. Without a back up computer in case something goes wrong, I will stop myself from opening the case and taking a blower or brush to the inside even though it likely needs it desperately because it gets so hot I need to keep a fan blowing on it from the side all the time. I ran Windows Defrag. Then I ran Auslogic Defrag which always finds more fragmented files immediately after Windows Defrag runs. Now I have heard that the Defrag that comes with Windows is not very good, but I also wonder if finding fragmented files is the Auslogic way of keeping the user happy. It is a free program, but it then does a scan and trows up all sorts of warnings about wasted space and registry errors and assorted other what-not. It recommends fixing the stuff it finds and clicking on the Fix link takes you to the Auslogic website inviting you to download the software that will fix it, also free to download. So I downloaded Auslogic Boost 8.2 and let it clean up the jumk files. It cleaims it freed up more than 2 GB of disk space, but the disk has the same about of free space as it did before this process started.

Anyway, I ran the Defrag again after the clean up and it found more fragmented files. Wait, what's this? Auslogic just started scanning my laptop on it's own. I stopped it and read the manual and changed the schedule from daily at 3pm to weekly at 4am. Sheesh, the nerve of software designers to think they own the computer just because you use their software. Ok, where were we?

I ran the defrag twice and now I am finally moving files to an external hard drive so they can be deleted. It's gonna take a while. Half hour or more just for the video files. 41.5 GB, 879 files. USB 2.0 is not the fastest, but it's an old hard laptop and an even older external (2007). That alone will double the free space on the laptop hard drive. I connected another old external and that one was not recognized, which is a bummer as it may mean the external is kaput. Wonder what is on it.

Meanwhile, to find three external hard drives, I searched two boxes. Good to know I know where most everything is, though I can't find the box of games. I thought I used two big bins for my games but I may have used one big bin and two small bins because I searched all the big bins and just found one with games. I'm going to bring them to Curly's since the only time I'll play them is there for a while. Some are new in wrapper so I may want to give those as gifts down the road. There are hundreds of dollars worth of games in the box. Maybe I should just give them to Curly as a bunch of gifts for letting me stay here for free. Seems reasonable, though I cringe at my poverty.

The video files are almost 75% copied and the external drive is getting quite warm. I found the one time I used it (in fact, the reason I bought it) was to copy Precious' files to back them up for her because her computer needed to go to the shop. That was back in 2008 and I forgot all about it lol. She probably did too. Some great music and fun stuff on that drive.

So the copying process is about 80% completed now. After the videos I'll move all the music. The laptop has no audio for now, so I don't need all those files taking up space, especially when the laptop is no longer portable because the battery won't last five minutes unplugged.

Looking outside, the sun is shining so there is a chance I will be playing softball tonight. Coachess (who coaches the Friday night team) asked me to fill in for her husband on her Tuesday night team tonight. So I shall skip cards and dinner (I gave Curly $20 toward this week's dinner, but I eat there for more than $20 worth over the course of time so it's all good. I should nap as I've been awake since around midnight. I laid down after going through a few boxes (I got the bug to start unpacking more again after finding the hard drives) but did not sleep. The brain can be so dumb when it's tired, regirgitating and runinating and suffocating itself.

The music is starting to be copied now. 52.6 GBm 6,389 files. Should take an hour. Hope it doesn't overheat the external. I may pause here as it is time to check out the evening activities, softball or cards, depending on the weather. Remember, keep your lap and drive clean :)

Narf :)