Creating free space

[Ramesh]

HI,

The Local Settings folder size shows around 400MB. But its 3 subfolders ..
Application Data, Apps and Temp total only to 80MB. Where are the remaining
bytes gone? I have enabled Show hidden files. I am trying to create more
free space on that drive. Is there a way out?

I have over a 100 folders of the format ($NtUninstallKB828741$) in the
Windows folder dated 2005 onwards. Would it be safe to delete all these
folders? Seems to be folders containing Uninstall info going by the name.

Thanks for any help,.

Ramesh

 

[Bill in Co.]

What about the Temporary Internet File folder? That's in there too, and
that could be large too. And the History folder. My total is close
to yours (300 MB), and LOTS of files (thousands).

 

[Ramesh]

Thanks Bill.

I have already removed all the Temp Internet and Temp files. I am puzzled
because the Local Settings folder contains only 3 folders whose sizes total
to 80MB.

Plus there are these 375 Uninstall files in the Windows folder occupying
over 500MB of space.

Ramesh

 

[Bill in Co.]

From over here, I don't know why there is that discrepancy (assuming that
the root Local Settings folder doesn't have anything else in it except those
3 folders).

 

[Curt Christianson]

Hi Bill,

Good point about Temp Internet files. The default setting is some
incredibly high percentage that I can't quite recall. Most recommendations
say to move the slider so you have say only 80 or 100 MB's of Temp storage.
The default setting was thought up when hard drives were *much smaller*.


--

Curt

http://dundats.mvps.org/
http://www.aumha.org/

 

[Bill in Co.]

I have mine set at 100 MB. I don't think making it bigger would
necessarily work better, as it may take just as long to search for, find,
and retrieve the files from a large TIF cache as it may getting it right off
the Net - so there is a tradeoff there. (Plus the larger it is, the more
open it is to some potential maintenance problems, I believe).

 

[Gerry]

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.


--



Hope this helps.

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

 

[Gerry]

Ramesh

The default allocation to System Restore is 12% 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.

Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp to
Empty your Recycle Bin and Remove Temporary Internet Files. Also
select Start, All Programs, accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp,
More Options, System Restore and remove all but the latest System
Restore point. Run Disk Defragmenter.

You will have a Local Settings folder for each User Profile. As others
have said you will have a Temporary Internet Folder as well as the
others mentioned. You can use Disk CleanUp to remove unwanted files.
This should be part of your routine housekeeping procedures.

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.

--



Hope this helps.

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

 

[Gerry]

The default allocation of 3% is per user so it becomes more significant
where a number of users share a computer.

--



Hope this helps.

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

 

[Curt Christianson]

Great points Gerry. I completely forgot about SR. 12% *would* be quite a
bit of "overkill" huh?

--
Curt

http://dundats.mvps.org/
http://www.aumha.org/