Disk cleanup

[r.antioch]

Hello
I have WIN 2000PRO on an old system, but the disk cleanup starts then just grinds away for minutes on end and does not complete the job.
Any suggestions please
Richard

 

[Galen]

In r.antioch <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

Hello
I have WIN 2000PRO on an old system, but the disk cleanup starts then
just grinds away for minutes on end and does not complete the job.
Any suggestions please
Richard

It might just have too much to handle and is choking on the data. Drop into
explorer and delete the files in the temp folders on your own and clean out
the internet cache on your own as well. I'd recommend one of the third party
programs for this but it sounds like you're suffering from resource issues
OR potentially malware issues. The latter is an outside shot that could
cause all sorts of symptoms. You could also try booting into safe mode
without networking and running disk cleanup from there.

Safe Mode :
http://kgiii.info/windows/all/general/safemode.html

Malware Cleaners and Repair :
http://kgiii.info/windows/all/general/malwarefix.html

And to see what's taking up the space on your drive in a pretty graphic
format:

SequoiaView:
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/sequoia.html

If it's a resouces issue the above program may very well choke and die or
load very slowly as it's indexing the drive's contents.

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/

"A man should keep his little brain attic stocked with all the
furniture that he is likely to use, and the rest he can put away in the
lumber-room of his library where he can get it if he wants it."

Sherlock Holmes

 

[diesel_fuel]

http://www.windowsitpro.com/Article/ArticleID/39412/39412.html

 

[r.antioch]

Hello Galen
Thank you for your reply. I have a very limited knowledge of
troubleshooting computers, so I will read through your suggestions and
links - I have never had to do anything from Safe Mode.
I forgot to mention that Processes in Task Man show McAfee taking between
75% to 90% CPU usage and the rest is used by cleanmgr.exe.
Does this say anything to you.
Rgds
Richard

 

[r.antioch]

Hello diesel fuel
Many thanks for the link.
This my very first venture into registry, so I had better get it right.
I have followed the instructions to the point where I have gone to the tool
bar, clicked on Registry(there is no File) and have chosen 'Export Registry
File'
Up came My Docs - as good a place as any I suppose to Save -
I have named the saved file as 'CompressedOldFilesReg'.
Save type shows as 'Registration Files' - I assume I leave that.
At the bottom it says, Export Range
'All' is unchecked
'Selected branch' shows HKEY...etc etc...Vol Cache\Compressed Old Files.
Is this all as it should be - can I do the last couple of actions.
Thanks again
Rgds
Richard

http://www.windowsitpro.com/Article/ArticleID/39412/39412.html

 

[Dan Seur]

Are you perchance really talking about defragmenting your drive?

 

[r.antioch]

Hello Dan
No, trying to get the Disk Cleaner to do its stuff.
Rgds
Richard

 

[Dan Seur]

Richard, you've provided almost no useful info about your system.

- Do you have more than one partition?
- Why run Disk Cleanup? A problem? Drive full? Some worrisome condition
that occurred suddenly? What?
- What "McAfee" are you talking about? Can you temporarily stop its
operation?
- How much RAM do you have?
- What size is your pagefile?
- When you run DCleanup is the disk light on steadily? This might
indicate "pagefile thrashing", a result of too little RAM or too small a
pagefile, and this can slow you to a near standstill.
- ....and so on....

 

[r.antioch]

Hello Dan
My answers are spliced between your questions below.
Until you ask I have no idea what your questions might be.
I am sorry re lack of info. but I could have supplied all sorts of info
about my whole system etc, of which most of it, would under the
circumstances have been useless.

Richard, you've provided almost no useful info about your system.

- Do you have more than one partition?
No
- Why run Disk Cleanup? A problem? Drive full? Some worrisome condition

Monthly housekeeping

that occurred suddenly? What?

Nothing I am aware of

- What "McAfee" are you talking about? Can you temporarily stop its
operation?

Mc antivirus Home v9 2005 - disk - it comes on as soon as I run the
cleaner - could stop it - have to pull the plug on broadband though.

- How much RAM do you have?

13 gig total - 9.5 gig free according to its properties.

- What size is your pagefile?

Did a search - found pagefile.sys - shows 390Mb. First I have heard of this
item.

- When you run DCleanup is the disk light on steadily? This might
indicate "pagefile thrashing", a result of too little RAM or too small a
pagefile, and this can slow you to a near standstill.
- ....and so on....

A small light just below the start button flickers all the time disk cleaner
is running - does not go constant at all.

I hope this helps
Thank you for you interest.
Richard

 

[Dan Seur]

Richard -
I'm interpolating comments below.

Hello Dan
My answers are spliced between your questions below.
Until you ask I have no idea what your questions might be.
I am sorry re lack of info. but I could have supplied all sorts of info
about my whole system etc, of which most of it, would under the
circumstances have been useless.



Monthly housekeeping

Am I to assume you've been running DCleanup monthly for some time?

Nothing I am aware of

Am I to assume you've not been running DCleanup monthly for some time?

Mc antivirus Home v9 2005 - disk - it comes on as soon as I run the
cleaner - could stop it - have to pull the plug on broadband though.

Do it. See if DCleanup behaves better.

13 gig total - 9.5 gig free according to its properties.

I doubt you have 13GB RAM; doubtless you have a 13GB hard drive. RAM is
the physical memory plugged into the motherboard. Too little RAM for an
application (or OS) and the performance of the machine slows dramatically.

Did a search - found pagefile.sys - shows 390Mb. First I have heard of this
item.

Probably the default size the system chose at install time. This size
pagefile likely means you have about 256MB RAM. Not much, for W2k. W2k
is a large and active system, constantly executing code and handling
data that requires more physical memory than is available. W2k handles
this by "swapping pages", or bit images of sections of physical memory,
to and from the hard drive. These swapped pages are in the "pagefile."

A small light just below the start button flickers all the time disk cleaner
is running - does not go constant at all.

"Going constant" really means flickering so fast that it appears
constant. Can't say whether "flickers all the time" indicates thrashing,
or just normal fast disk structure inspection by the DCleanup application.

Absent any info from you about perceived changes of system behavior in
re DCleanup, I can't really go further. Hope you solve your problem.

 

[r.antioch]

Hello Dan
Rather than 'intercalating' further comments/info/replies between my
splicing and your interpolating, I have started again.
I tried it and it was very difficult to follow.
The system currently in use was built 98(Dell XPST500-P3 500Mhz)with WIN 98.
I know this system
A friend no longer had any use for WIN2000 + Office etc so put it on mine
with extra memory.
It has run well for 2yrs - disk cleaned ok and defrag ok.
Last 4 months another has been using it so I am cleaning it up.
Also recently connected it to B'band and installed McAfee.
Always disk clean at least once every 2 months - is that not good practice?
MVPs recommend it along with other housekeeping. Some use the 'DISK
CLEANER' set to run quietly on startup does it all for you. It certainly is
good with XP - makes XPs Disk Clean a right piker.
It will not clear IE5 and doesnt clear my Temp at all.
Sorry re mis-information - it was a bad day yesterday - must have been to
confuse ROM and RAM.
Memory is 384MB RAM
Page file is 183MB used - 552MB available
The light does flicker but not to show constant light - does the same for
most progs etc as they run i.e. antispy, adaware.
The defrag works as always has.
The only perceived changes has been the recent addition of McAfee.
But they assured me it was OK on my system.
Apart from other suggestions posted by diesel fuel and Galen, I will discon.
McA and see what happens.
Many thanks for your input - I will post results for all to see.
Rgds
Richard

 

[Dan Seur]

Richard - I've never used DCleanup (typically have a 10GB "C:" for W2k,
have never run short of space, never any probs) buyt defer to wiser
heads' advice (if indeed wiser.

If the new McAfee is set to ALWAYS viruscheckscan EVERY fILE flowing
across ANY path in the machine, this can cause an extreme slowdown in
terms of what you experience. You might see whether there's a way to
restrict McAfee to scanning internet/email traffic only while you run
DCleanup.

Looking at your system specs, your hardware should run 'normal' W2k apps
quite satisfactorily (mailers, wordprocs, spreadsheets, simple games,
etc.) Demanding apps might be another story.

In the world of W2k, a 500MHz CPU is relatively slow. 384MB RAM is
relatively small. Your hard drive may be relatively slow. Your McAfee
scanning may be very CPU intensive; it has to inspect all bits in every
file it checks, looking for various 'virus signature patterns." As I
said, this set of conditions does not make for recordsetting cleanup
speed; once you initiate the cleanup you can sit back and enjoy a few
Tolstoy novels before the bell rings.

If defrag still works as always then you likely have no real hardware or
software probs. I'll bet (but it's only a paper bet!) that the problem
you've seen is the result of the constellation of characteristics
described above.

BTW, if you have no plans to install a great many more apps, and if you
have a good deal of free space, I think you can relax about using
DCleanup. Just keep an eye on the amount of free space... Good luck!

 

[r.antioch]

Hello again Dan
All your observations are noted.
I have inter...whatever.

Richard - I've never used DCleanup (typically have a 10GB "C:" for W2k,

have never run short of space, never any probs) buyt defer to wiser heads'
advice (if indeed wiser.

Point noted

If the new McAfee is set to ALWAYS viruscheckscan EVERY fILE flowing

across ANY path in the machine, this can cause an extreme slowdown in terms
of what you experience. You might see whether there's a way to restrict
McAfee to scanning internet/email traffic only while you run DCleanup.

Yes I agree - I disabled McA and Disk Cleanup went through like a dose of
salts in 30 secs. Its the McA for certain. I will do as you suggest and
look for a way of calming it during normal computer use.

Looking at your system specs, your hardware should run 'normal' W2k apps

quite satisfactorily (mailers, wordprocs, spreadsheets, simple games, etc.)
Demanding apps might be another story.

In the world of W2k, a 500MHz CPU is relatively slow. 384MB RAM is

relatively small. Your hard drive may be relatively slow. Your McAfee
scanning may be very CPU intensive; it has to inspect all bits in every file
it checks, looking for various 'virus signature patterns." As I said, this
set of conditions does not make for recordsetting cleanup
speed; once you initiate the cleanup you can sit back and enjoy a few
Tolstoy novels before the bell rings.

Good idea - get back into the habit of reading.

If defrag still works as always then you likely have no real hardware or

software probs. I'll bet (but it's only a paper bet!) that the problem
you've seen is the result of the constellation of characteristics
described above.

BTW, if you have no plans to install a great many more apps, and if you

have a good deal of free space, I think you can relax about using
DCleanup. Just keep an eye on the amount of free space... Good luck!

Point taken - no its purely for email, the net and the odd letter or fax.
I use the other machine(called fluffy)with monster HDD, graphics and memory
for flight sim.
Many thanks again - yet another learning curve for me. Much appreciated.
Richard

 

[Dan Seur]

Richard - thanx for the feedback re McAfee.
I was only kidding about the Tolstoy; fate worse than d.
Marvel Comics says it all.