No one but you knows which - if any - of the .NET Frameworks you might need.
Seriously. I am not just saying this to blow you off or something. Your
computer has them installed for one reason or another. Some software you
installed, even a video card driver/utility, could have installed any one of
them for you during its installation. There are many things that use those
now - and they were written with a specific version in mind. Before you
ask - no - there is no list of things that use the .NET Framework - because
it varies so much if nothing else.
As for your space problem - truthfully - if you think uninstalling the .NET
Framework is going to help with that, I have to say that you *are* mistaken.
Let's stretch this to the limits and say that the .NET Framework(s) (all of
them) is taking up 4GB (it isn't - I would guess less than 1GB total.) That
is - today - not much space. USB Thumb Drives (Flash Drives) are at least
that size - if not larger (2GB, 4GB are more common (under $20) - with 8GB,
16GB and 32GB also readily available for well under $100.)
In any case - I would say if you are worried over 5GB or less of free space
on your computer, you have already grossly underestimated your needs when it
comes tro space and you need to take actual corrective action instead of
working around it. In other words - archive the stuff you don't use all
that much - if at all (your stuff - documents, pictures, movies, music,
email, contacts, etc.) and if - after you move that stuff to more permanent
(and frankly - safer) storage - you still do not have enough free space - it
is time to consider an investment into a larger hard disk drive and
replacement. With the cost of hard disk drives these days - you'd probably
easily double/triple (more) the size of your current drive for less than
$100 US Dollars.
But - yes - you should attempt to free up space first - sure. Remember
though - your stuff first. Then you can cleanup any of the little crud that
the OS and other programs may have left behind...
If you are comfortable with the stability of your system, you can delete the
uninstall files for the patches that Windows XP has installed...
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/spack.htm
( Particularly of interest here - #4 )
( Alternative:
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_hotfix_backup.htm )
You can run Disk Cleanup - built into Windows XP - to erase all but your
latest restore point and cleanup even more "loose files"..
How to use Disk Cleanup
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310312
You can turn off hibernation if it is on and you don't use it..
When you hibernate your computer, Windows saves the contents of the system's
memory to the hiberfil.sys file. As a result, the size of the hiberfil.sys
file will always equal the amount of physical memory in your system. If you
don't use the hibernate feature and want to recapture the space that Windows
uses for the hiberfil.sys file, perform the following steps:
- Start the Control Panel Power Options applet (go to Start, Settings,
Control Panel, and click Power Options).
- Select the Hibernate tab, clear the "Enable hibernation" check box, then
click OK; although you might think otherwise, selecting Never under the
"System hibernates" option on the Power Schemes tab doesn't delete the
hiberfil.sys file.
- Windows will remove the "System hibernates" option from the Power Schemes
tab and delete the hiberfil.sys file.
You can control how much space your System Restore can use...
1. Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
2. Click the System Restore tab.
3. Highlight one of your drives (or C: if you only have one) and click on
the "Settings" button.
4. Change the percentage of disk space you wish to allow.. I suggest moving
the slider until you have just about 1GB (1024MB or close to that...)
5. Click OK.. Then Click OK again.
You can control how much space your Temporary Internet Files can utilize...
Empty your Temporary Internet Files and shrink the size it stores to a
size between 64MB and 128MB..
- Open ONE copy of Internet Explorer.
- Select TOOLS -> Internet Options.
- Under the General tab in the "Temporary Internet Files" section, do the
following:
- Click on "Delete Cookies" (click OK)
- Click on "Settings" and change the "Amount of disk space to use:" to
something between 64MB and 128MB. (It may be MUCH larger right
now.)
- Click OK.
- Click on "Delete Files" and select to "Delete all offline contents"
(the checkbox) and click OK. (If you had a LOT, this could take 2-10
minutes or more.)
- Once it is done, click OK, close Internet Explorer, re-open Internet
Explorer.
You can use an application that scans your system for log files and
temporary files and use that to get rid of those:
Ccleaner (Free!)
http://www.ccleaner.com/
Other ways to free up space..
SequoiaView
http://www.win.tue.nl/sequoiaview/
JDiskReport
http://www.jgoodies.com/freeware/jdiskreport/index.html
Those can help you visually discover where all the space is being used.
In the end - a standard Windows XP installation with all sorts of extras
will not likely be above about 4.5GB to 9GB in size. If you have more space
than that (likely do on a modern machine) and most of it seems to be used -
likely you need to copy *your stuff* off and/or find a better way to manage
it.
Come back, comment, let us know more details (like the size of your hard
disk drive, the amount of current free space, how the cleanup went, etc.)
--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
Thanks so much for your answer to my question and expecially for taking the time to provide so much information. Bottom line, I think I do need to invest in a larger hard disk drive. I wish Skybuck's answer was correct because I've already taken some of the space-saving steps you've suggested and it has not helped much, although archiving sounds promising as an interim measure. Thank you.
