Workshop
What you need: System Ninja
Time required: 30 minutes
System Ninja is a Windowsoptimisation tool that can manage your startup programs, clear out browser clutter, and identify junk files for removal. Its latest update (version 4) adds bug fixes, is easier to use, and – for the first time – has the option to clean up the Recycle Bin. The Pro edition costs $14.95 (£12.33) a year and offers one-click optimisation. However, the free edition (www.snipca.com/47810) is still quick and easy to use. Here, we explain how to use it to remove junk that’s harder to reach.
1
STEP Close all open browsers running on your system, then launch System Ninja. It will open with the Junk Scanner tab 1 selected. By default, System Ninja will scan your entire hard drive for the kinds of junk selected in the right-hand sidebar 2 . If you want to target only the Recycle Bin, leave this selected and untick everything else. Click ‘Scan For Junk’ 3 , then select the drive you want to clean and click Continue.
2 STEP When System Ninja has finished scanning, scroll through the list of results to make sure there's nothing you need to keep. If there isn’t, click Delete All Files. If you spot something you want to retain, right-click it in the file list 1 and select ‘Ignore this file’ 2 on the menu. Alternatively, select ‘Ignore files of this type’ if you want to keep all similar files. When you’ve secured the files you want to retain, click Delete Files 3 .
3 STEP You can set System Ninja to automatically skip over files saved in a specific folder or created by a particular program. Click Options 1 , followed by Scan Exclusions 2 . To exclude all files created by a program, click Specific Program 3 then select the program in the pop-up box 4 . To exclude a specific folder, click Folder/Drive 5 , use the Browse For Folder window to select the folder, then click OK.
4 STEP Now that you’re familiar with the process, you can speed it up. In Step 1, we explained how to select the dri
