XP home - Hard Drive Issue

S

stuart wohl

My Dell 2.8 GHz HT with 512 Ram has started to slow down. I ran all of my
spyware removals and did remove all that were found. The computer is still
sluggish. Windows Explorer hangs and doesn't respond quickly. It takes
several seconds to respond to commands.

My hard drive 'properties says I have 9 GBs free. I have moved many of my
..jpg's and bmp pics to my external (backup) drive.

My question/problem is this. After moving these files I did not gain any
drive space. Why?

Also, I did a defrag (several times) but after it 'defrags' and I click
"analyze" , it tells me I should defrag again.

Can anyone help me?

Thanks
 
G

Gerry Cornell

Stuart

Do you have Norton Utilities installed?

How large is your hard drive? Is it partitioned? How much free space on
each drive / partition. How is the drive formatted -FAT32 or NTFS. To
get this information whilst in Windows Explorer place the cursor on each
drive in turn, right click and select Properties.

To investigate how you are using hard disk space you need to make sure that
you can see all files. Go to Start, Control Panel, Folder Options, View,
Advanced Settings and verify that the box before "Show hidden files and
folders" is checked and "Hide protected operating system files " is
unchecked. You may need to scroll down to see the second item. You should
also make certain that the box before "Hide extensions for known file types"
is not checked. Next in Windows Explorer make sure View, Details is selected
and then select View, Choose Details and check before Name, Type, Total
Size, and Free Space.

You still will not see the System Volume Information folder.
How to Gain Access to the System Volume Information Folder
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;309531

FileSize -a useful tool for use with Windows Explorer when investigating how
disk space is being used.
http://markd.mvps.org/

The download link is not obvious. Click the here in the two sentences of the
web page accessed through the link above. "I can't count the number of times
someone has asked for this. So here is a module you can install that shows a
Folder Size column in Explorer."

Next right click your My Computer icon on the Desktop and select System
Restore . Which drives are shown as Monitored and which as Turned Off?
You only need to monitor the drive containing your Windows
operating system.
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/adjustdihealthy.html

To increase you free space on your C select Start, All Programs,
Accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp, More Options, System Restore and
remove all but the latest System Restore points? Restore points can be quite
large. By the way System Restore Points are hidden files which you will not
see even after you have taken the measures to show hidden files detailed
above.

You should use Disk CleanUp regularly to Empty your Recycle Bin and
Remove Temporary Internet Files. Whenever you remove redundant files you
should always run Disk Defragmenter by selecting Start, All Programs,
Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter.

It is likely that an allocation of 12% has been made to System Restore on
your C partition which is over generous. I would reduce it to 700 mb. Right
click your My Computer icon on the Desktop and select System Restore. Place
the cursor on your C drive select Settings but this time find the slider and
drag it to the left until it reads 700 mb and exit. When you get to the
Settings screen click on Apply and OK and exit.

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
G

Gene K

Start/All Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Disk Cleanup. Clean out the
temporary files and empty the recycle bin with this tool.
Gene K
 
V

vemoex

After moving these files I did not gain any drive space. Why?

Try the ViewFolderSize Pro
http://www.moveax.com/viewfoldersizepro/

View Folder Size Pro is a highly configurable program that lets you
keep track of file and folder sizes in real time. You can use it right
from Windows Explorer and get instant and up-to-date information on all
your files and folders. The program is fast, efficient and gives you a
lot of configurable options. The program can show you your disk space
usage as a diagram, making it easy to see. It's a slick program for
monitoring specific folders or for finding out exactly which folders
are taking up the most disk space.
 

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