hard Drive Space

[fkosmakos]

My computer has slowed down, but I am down to 23% free space. I have
significant external drive space and I have considerable junk on the hard
drive.

Is there a strategy for removing alot of material. Is there a better place
to look for extranous software than the program file? Any warnings or
precautions?

Thanks

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

My computer has slowed down, but I am down to 23% free space. I have
significant external drive space and I have considerable junk on the hard
drive.

Is there a strategy for removing alot of material. Is there a better place
to look for extranous software than the program file? Any warnings or
precautions?

Your computer has not slowed down because the amount of free space is
down. The amount of free space doesn't affect the speed of it at all.

23% free space doesn't sound terrible, but that depends on how many GB
that 23% is. If you want to remove some of what's on the drive, what
the strategy is depends entirely on exactly what kind of junk you
have. If you would be much more specific about that, we can give you
some advice. And what makes you think that what you call "junk" is
junk.

Regarding your slowdown, more specific information about that would
help too.

Please answer the following questions:

1. How big is the slowdown (please put a number, even if approximate,
on it)?

2. Is the slowdown when doing everything, or if only some things,
which things?

3. How long it has it been since the slowdown started?

4. What changes, in hardware or utility software, did you perhaps make
around the time the slowdown started?

These days there are two main reasons for a computer's running slowly:

1. Infection with malware.


2. Programs that drag down Windows performance autostarting and
running in the background.


So please also tell us

1. What anti-virus and anti-spyware programs you run.

7. What programs you have autostarting (from Start | Run, run MSConfig
and you can see the list of them there).

 

[JS]

First use Windows 'Disk Cleanup' to create more space on your C: drive.
Description of the Disk Cleanup Tool in Windows XP:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310312

Next: Empty the Recycle Bin.

If you recently installed Windows XP Service Pack 3:
Look for an odd folder name which is located here
C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\Download\cf8ec753e88561d..........\
Note: the apparent random set of letter and number may vary from my
example above but whatever the name is, it will be more than
600MB in size and can be safely deleted.
You may also see a number of other folders or files located in the:
C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\Download\ directory
They also can be deleted.

You can also free up more disk space by reducing
the number of 'System Restore' points:
Select Start/Control Panel/System, then in the System Properties window
click on the System Restore tab.
Next select the drive letter where Windows is installed (usually C,
Then click on the Setting button
Now in the Drive Settings window move the Disk space usage slider to the
left to reduce the amount of drive space System Restore points will use.
This will remove some of the older restore points and free up some space.

Disable Hibernation and delete hiberfil.sys file (If you have it enabled):
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/...sys-hibernation-file-in-windows-xp-and-vista/
and:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/mobility/getstarted/hibernate.mspx
and: http://www.softwarepatch.com/tips/hiberfil-sys-xp.html

If you are using IE7 and then installed SP3 read the info below.
IE7 users will find the folders listed below on their hard drive:
$NtServicePackUninstallIDNMitigationAPIs$
$NtServicePackUninstallNLSDownlevelMapping$
They are needed to uninstall IE7. However, if you installed IE7 and
then installed XP SP3 you can no longer uninstall IE7 and these
folders can also be deleted.

Note: The recommended procedure before installing XP SP3 is to
uninstall IE7, then install XP SP3. Now you still have the ability to
install and uninstall IE7.

Next if you still need more space:
Remove the files used to uninstall updates to Windows
These folders and associated files in these folders are safe to remove,
however once deleted you will no longer be able to un-install a patch or
update that was associated with the deleted folder/files.
I would keep the most recent set (last two months just in case) of folders
and delete the older updates.
As a safety net I burned these folders to a CD before deleting them.
These files are located in the Windows folder and have folder names
like $NtUninstallKBXXXXXX$.
They are hidden folders so enable viewing of hidden files in Windows
Explorer.
Warning: One folder you should not delete is: $hf_mig$
Also See the following web pages on this issue:
http://www.pagestart.com/ntuninstall.html
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/spack.htm
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_hotfix_backup.htm

If you upgraded your PC from Windows 98 to Windows XP.
The $Win98UpdateUninstall$ can be deleted.

You can reduce the size of the Internet Explorer Disk Cache:
How and Why to Clear Your Cache:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/ie6/using/howto/customizing/clearcache.mspx
Just follow the instructions but instead of increasing the size
(as stated in the article) decrease it.

Finally: Check the Recycle Bin one more time and empty it
if necessary as some of those files you deleted in the steps
mentioned above may find there way into the recycle bin.

If you have more than one partition or drive then:
How to Change the Default Location of Mail and News Folders:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307971/en-us