DISK CLEANUP UTILITY WON'T GET PAST "COMPRESS OLD FILES"

[Michael A.]

I have had XP for over 1 year and have few issues with it. Until one
week ago I frequently clicked Performance and Maintenace and
successfully utilized the Disk Cleanup Utility.

As you know this utility first scans your system, including a check of
"old (uncompressed) files" then shows you how much space can be opened
up by such things as "Emptying Recycle Bin" "Delete Temporary Files"
"Compress Old Files" (usually a way to gain significant space on the C
Drive).

Recently, while the Utility is doing its prelimary analysis of my
system, it stops on the part of the Disk Cleanup review that looks for
old files to compress.It NEVER gets past this phase of the calculation
about how much Disk space can be opened up. I never can activate the
Cleanup actin.

Is this a known issue, with a known cause(s), or known fix(es)?

Thanks for any assistance. I wish I kept my home as tidy and
uncluttered as I try to keep my computer.

 

[Jason Tsang]

See this site for a registry file that should fix your problem

http://aumha.org/regfiles.php#cleanfix

 

[Mark]

The "Compress old files" option in the Disk Cleanup
utility is enabled by default in Windows XP. Therefore,
when you start the Disk Cleanup process, the system
searches for unused or old files and collects information
regarding these files. The system takes some time to
search for the old files and compress them. When the Disk
Cleanup utility freezes while compressing old files using
the Disk Cleanup utility, delete the "Compress old files"
option in the Windows Registry to resolve the problem.

To delete the "Compress old files" option, follow these
steps:

1. Click Start and click Run.
2. In the Open field, type Regedit and click OK.
3. Navigate to the following key:


HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersio
n Explorer\VolumeCaches
4. Right-click the key "Compress old files" and select
Delete.
5. Confirm the deletion.
6. Close the Registry Editor.

Alternatively, you can download and run the registry patch
from the
following Web site by following these steps:

1. Visit the following Web site:

http://www.kellys-korner-
xp.com/regs_edits/deletecompressoldfiles.reg

NOTE: The URL above will take you to a non HP Web
site. HP
does not control and is not responsible for
information
outside of the HP Web site.

2. Save the file to your desktop.
3. Right-Click the file and select "Merge."

The above patch will automatically make the necessary
registry changes.

The Disk Cleanup utility should no longer freeze while
using the "Compress old files" option.

 

[S.Sengupta]

Hi!!Michael!
look here:-
1] http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;812248
or,
2] http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm
Line 48, Right column "Disk Cleanup - Compress..."
Save on Desktop.
Double click the icon once downloaded.
The icon can then be discarded
or,
3] http://aumha.org/regfiles.php#cleanfix

Hope it helps.
regards/
ssg/pronetworks.org

 

[Michael A.]

Thank you Mark, Jason and Mr. Sengupta for your feedback. I followed
the Kellys-korner link/fix. It was swiftly and successfully
implemented and seems to have accessed my Registry (again with no
problem) and deleted/bypassed Compress Old Files function of the Disk
Cleanup Utility. I have already successfully cleaned-up but I seem to
no longer have the "option" of compressing old files.

Question: given that the act of "compressing old files" was a space
saver in the past, by no longer having that option as a part of the
Utility am I now quietly accumlating many eventual "old files" that I
will not be able to compress, thus, over time, creating space issues?

In other words by "eliminating" the hang issue by eliminating the
Compress Old Files aspect of Disk Cleanup, am I creating a larger
problem down-the-line (no way to compress files)?

Can I have my cake and eat it too: KEEP the Compress Old Files aspect
BUT without it totally hanging up the other aspects of Disk Cleanup??
As I mentioned I had successfully used all aspects of the Utility,
including Compress Old Files, until recently when it started hanging.

Thanks again. I'm a newbie and your collective wisdom is awesome!!

Hi!!Michael!
look here:-
1] http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;812248
or,
2] http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm
Line 48, Right column "Disk Cleanup - Compress..."
Save on Desktop.
Double click the icon once downloaded.
The icon can then be discarded
or,
3] http://aumha.org/regfiles.php#cleanfix

Hope it helps.
regards/
ssg/pronetworks.org

I have had XP for over 1 year and have few issues with it. Until one
week ago I frequently clicked Performance and Maintenace and
successfully utilized the Disk Cleanup Utility.

As you know this utility first scans your system, including a check of
"old (uncompressed) files" then shows you how much space can be opened
up by such things as "Emptying Recycle Bin" "Delete Temporary Files"
"Compress Old Files" (usually a way to gain significant space on the C
Drive).

Recently, while the Utility is doing its prelimary analysis of my
system, it stops on the part of the Disk Cleanup review that looks for
old files to compress.It NEVER gets past this phase of the calculation
about how much Disk space can be opened up. I never can activate the
Cleanup actin.

Is this a known issue, with a known cause(s), or known fix(es)?

Thanks for any assistance. I wish I kept my home as tidy and
uncluttered as I try to keep my computer.

 

[David Candy]

Noone knows why it happens. The only workaround is to remove the feature.

To undo changes (and it WILL hang again) type in start run
regsvr32 dataclen

You can compress any file or folder by right clicking it and choosing
Advanced on the General tab. It is better not to compress unless there is a
reason to compress (disk space) as defrag hates compressed files..

Thank you Mark, Jason and Mr. Sengupta for your feedback. I followed
the Kellys-korner link/fix. It was swiftly and successfully
implemented and seems to have accessed my Registry (again with no
problem) and deleted/bypassed Compress Old Files function of the Disk
Cleanup Utility. I have already successfully cleaned-up but I seem to
no longer have the "option" of compressing old files.

Question: given that the act of "compressing old files" was a space
saver in the past, by no longer having that option as a part of the
Utility am I now quietly accumlating many eventual "old files" that I
will not be able to compress, thus, over time, creating space issues?

In other words by "eliminating" the hang issue by eliminating the
Compress Old Files aspect of Disk Cleanup, am I creating a larger
problem down-the-line (no way to compress files)?

Can I have my cake and eat it too: KEEP the Compress Old Files aspect
BUT without it totally hanging up the other aspects of Disk Cleanup??
As I mentioned I had successfully used all aspects of the Utility,
including Compress Old Files, until recently when it started hanging.

Thanks again. I'm a newbie and your collective wisdom is awesome!!

Hi!!Michael!
look here:-
1] http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;812248
or,
2] http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm
Line 48, Right column "Disk Cleanup - Compress..."
Save on Desktop.
Double click the icon once downloaded.
The icon can then be discarded
or,
3] http://aumha.org/regfiles.php#cleanfix

Hope it helps.
regards/
ssg/pronetworks.org

I have had XP for over 1 year and have few issues with it. Until one
week ago I frequently clicked Performance and Maintenace and
successfully utilized the Disk Cleanup Utility.

As you know this utility first scans your system, including a check of
"old (uncompressed) files" then shows you how much space can be opened
up by such things as "Emptying Recycle Bin" "Delete Temporary Files"
"Compress Old Files" (usually a way to gain significant space on the C
Drive).

Recently, while the Utility is doing its prelimary analysis of my
system, it stops on the part of the Disk Cleanup review that looks for
old files to compress.It NEVER gets past this phase of the calculation
about how much Disk space can be opened up. I never can activate the
Cleanup actin.

Is this a known issue, with a known cause(s), or known fix(es)?

Thanks for any assistance. I wish I kept my home as tidy and
uncluttered as I try to keep my computer.

 

[GSV Three Minds in a Can]

Thank you Mark, Jason and Mr. Sengupta for your feedback. I followed
the Kellys-korner link/fix. It was swiftly and successfully
implemented and seems to have accessed my Registry (again with no
problem) and deleted/bypassed Compress Old Files function of the Disk
Cleanup Utility. I have already successfully cleaned-up but I seem to
no longer have the "option" of compressing old files.

Question: given that the act of "compressing old files" was a space
saver in the past, by no longer having that option as a part of the
Utility am I now quietly accumlating many eventual "old files" that I
will not be able to compress, thus, over time, creating space issues?

<snip>

I vote for just not using this option. If they are =really= old and
un-used files, then you can manually compress (or archive, or delete, or
whatever) them. With disk at <1$ per Gbyte life it too short to go
chasing every last byte .. and compressed files have to be uncompressed
again if you want to access them, which takes cpu time.

I stick big/old files into a Winzip .zip archive, and ignore the others.
'Compress old files' was maybe a neat idea (if WinXP and I could agree
what 'old' meant) back when disks were 30Gb. Now disks are 300Gb, it
makes not much sense (given that 'known to be large' types of files,
like video, and photo, typically have compression designed in anyway).