Compress Files in Windows Folder?

[Guest]

My Windows folder (C:/Windows) seems unusually large compared with other
folders in my computer. There is an option at C:/Windows>right
click>properties>advanced "compress contents to save disc space."
Is this generally a good idea? - i.e. does it speed up or slow down
operation - it probably saves space, but is there a cost and is it a
worthwhile venture?

The Windows folder, despite regular maintenance (disc cleanup, defragging
etc.),
stays the same large size and edges upward each month. Is this normal
behavior for the species? Does it need curbing?

Any and all comments welcome.

 

[Gerry]

HGeorge

What you describe is normal. Some suggestions you can try.

To increase you free space on your XP partition 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.

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.

Another default setting which could be wasteful is that for temporary
internet files especially if you do not store offline copies on disk.
The default allocation is 3% of drive. Depending on your attitude to
offline copies you could reduce this to 1% or 2%. In Internet Explorer
select Tools, Internet Options, General, Temporary Internet Files,
Settings to make the change. At the same time look at the number of
days history is held.

The default allocation for the Recycle Bin is 10 % of drive. Change to
5%, which should be sufficient. In Windows Explorer place the cursor
on your Recycle Bin, right click and select Properties, Global and
move the slider from 10% to 5%. However, try to avoid letting it get
too full as if it is full and you delete a file by mistake it will
bypass the Recycle Bin and be gone for ever.

If your drive is formatted as NTFS another potential gain arises with
your operating system on your C drive. In the Windows Directory of your
C partition you will have some Uninstall folders in your Windows folder
typically: $NtServicePackUninstall$ and $NtUninstallKB282010$ etc. These
files may be compressed or not compressed. If compressed the text of the
folder name appears in blue characters. If not compressed you can
compress them. Right click on each folder and select Properties,
General, Advanced and check the box before Compress contents to save
Disk Space. On the General Tab you can see the amount gained by
deducting the size on disk from the size. Folder compression is only an
option on a NTFS formatted drive / partition. Don't compress other
folders as it slows access to and from files. It doesn't matter with
Uninstall folders as they are only kept for an eventuality which may
never arise.

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

My Windows folder (C:/Windows) seems unusually large compared with other
folders in my computer.

Exactly how large is "unusually large"?

There is an option at C:/Windows>right
click>properties>advanced "compress contents to save disc space."
Is this generally a good idea?

No.


- i.e. does it speed up or slow down
operation - it probably saves space, but is there a cost and is it a
worthwhile venture?


The Windows folder, despite regular maintenance (disc cleanup, defragging
etc.),
stays the same large size and edges upward each month. Is this normal
behavior for the species?

Yes.


Does it need curbing?

Probably not, but answer the question above first.

See Gerry's message for information on how to save some space.
However, if there is so little free space that you are concerned,
whatever you do is likely to be little more than a stopgap measure.
It's only a matter of time before you will need to buy more disk
space. Fortunately hard drives are very inexpensive right now.

 

[Guest]

Hello Gerry,

Thanks for the thorough reply. I've put all your suggestions into play and
expect a modest improvement in performance.

I failed to mention the size of my C:/Windows folder - it is 4.5GB which
seems large to me but is probably within the average range for the typical
household user.
All of the folder names with dollar signs ($) before and after (about 150)
were already high-lighted in blue text - the balance of the folders were in
black text.
The vast majority of the files listed separately beneath and after the
folders were also in blue text - so I guess most of what should be compressed
was done so automatically upon entering the Windows folder.

Your brief analysis of which files to compress was a spot on answer to the
query.
My sincere gratitude to you.
--
George
XP Home Edition

HGeorge

What you describe is normal. Some suggestions you can try.

To increase you free space on your XP partition 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.

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.

Another default setting which could be wasteful is that for temporary
internet files especially if you do not store offline copies on disk.
The default allocation is 3% of drive. Depending on your attitude to
offline copies you could reduce this to 1% or 2%. In Internet Explorer
select Tools, Internet Options, General, Temporary Internet Files,
Settings to make the change. At the same time look at the number of
days history is held.

The default allocation for the Recycle Bin is 10 % of drive. Change to
5%, which should be sufficient. In Windows Explorer place the cursor
on your Recycle Bin, right click and select Properties, Global and
move the slider from 10% to 5%. However, try to avoid letting it get
too full as if it is full and you delete a file by mistake it will
bypass the Recycle Bin and be gone for ever.

If your drive is formatted as NTFS another potential gain arises with
your operating system on your C drive. In the Windows Directory of your
C partition you will have some Uninstall folders in your Windows folder
typically: $NtServicePackUninstall$ and $NtUninstallKB282010$ etc. These
files may be compressed or not compressed. If compressed the text of the
folder name appears in blue characters. If not compressed you can
compress them. Right click on each folder and select Properties,
General, Advanced and check the box before Compress contents to save
Disk Space. On the General Tab you can see the amount gained by
deducting the size on disk from the size. Folder compression is only an
option on a NTFS formatted drive / partition. Don't compress other
folders as it slows access to and from files. It doesn't matter with
Uninstall folders as they are only kept for an eventuality which may
never arise.

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Gerry]

George

Your Windows folder seems to be about 30% larger than mine. It is,
however, difficult to make comparisons as there is no single sub-folder
within the Windows folder noticeably larger than many others. File
compression has reduced the size of my Windows folder by about 10%.. The
Windows folder on a second computer here formatted as FAT32 ( cannot use
file compression ) is 3.8 gb and 20% larger than my main computer..

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Guest]

Hello Mr. Blake,

I see what you mean about the "unusually large'" phrase I used - it's
relative and needs context. Here are the sizes of the folders in C:/:

Documents and Settings 451/408MB
hp
223/190MB
I386
8.42/6.62MB
JDSecure 4.31/3.47MB
PCOMPS 17.8/16.3MB
Program Files 2.42/2.06GB
Python22
19.9/13.2MB

So, to me, the Windows folder size of 4.15GB seemed "relatively large" when
compared to the other folders on the C Drive. Not knowing what was the norm
for the different folder sizes, I was inquiring to learn if my Windows folder
was larger than it probably should be and what, if anything, I might do to
compress or weed out unnecessary files in order to enhance performance. There
are 27,632 files and 1,470 folders in the Windows folder - to me, those are
mind-boggling numbers. I don't begin to understand the need for so very many
and thought that surely, for someone who is a home user who surfs the net and
sends out maybe 10 e-mails per week, many of the files and folders were
extraneous.

I was simply looking to optimize my computer's operational performance -
disc size was not a consideration (over 100GB of free space). The inciteful
comments to my query have been a great help and satisfied my unease - my
Windows folder is healthy as is.

Now it is time to leave well-enough alone and waste no one's time further.

Thank you, Mr. Blake, for your oversight.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Hello Mr. Blake,

I see what you mean about the "unusually large'" phrase I used - it's
relative and needs context. Here are the sizes of the folders in C:/:

Documents and Settings 451/408MB
hp
223/190MB
I386
8.42/6.62MB
JDSecure 4.31/3.47MB
PCOMPS 17.8/16.3MB
Program Files 2.42/2.06GB
Python22
19.9/13.2MB

So, to me, the Windows folder size of 4.15GB seemed "relatively large" when
compared to the other folders on the C Drive. Not knowing what was the norm
for the different folder sizes, I was inquiring to learn if my Windows folder
was larger than it probably should be and what, if anything, I might do to
compress or weed out unnecessary files in order to enhance performance. There
are 27,632 files and 1,470 folders in the Windows folder - to me, those are
mind-boggling numbers. I don't begin to understand the need for so very many
and thought that surely, for someone who is a home user who surfs the net and
sends out maybe 10 e-mails per week, many of the files and folders were
extraneous.

I was simply looking to optimize my computer's operational performance -
disc size was not a consideration (over 100GB of free space). The inciteful
comments to my query have been a great help and satisfied my unease - my
Windows folder is healthy as is.

Now it is time to leave well-enough alone and waste no one's time further.

Thank you, Mr. Blake, for your oversight.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Hello Mr. Blake,

No formality necessary. Just "Ken" is fine.

I see what you mean about the "unusually large'" phrase I used - it's
relative and needs context. Here are the sizes of the folders in C:/:

,snip>

So, to me, the Windows folder size of 4.15GB seemed "relatively large" when
compared to the other folders on the C Drive.

No, it's not at all unusual, and is nothing to be concerned about.

Not knowing what was the norm
for the different folder sizes, I was inquiring to learn if my Windows folder
was larger than it probably should be and what, if anything, I might do to
compress or weed out unnecessary files in order to enhance performance. There
are 27,632 files and 1,470 folders in the Windows folder - to me, those are
mind-boggling numbers.

But not unusual ones.

I don't begin to understand the need for so very many
and thought that surely, for someone who is a home user who surfs the net and
sends out maybe 10 e-mails per week, many of the files and folders were
extraneous.

I was simply looking to optimize my computer's operational performance -
disc size was not a consideration (over 100GB of free space). The inciteful
comments to my query have been a great help and satisfied my unease - my
Windows folder is healthy as is.

Now it is time to leave well-enough alone and waste no one's time further.

It's not a matter of wasting anyone's time. We're all glad to help.
But yes, I don't see any problem that needs you attention.

 

[Gerry]

George

Do you have Microsoft Office? If yes what version? How much space does
it take?

--
Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~